Atlanta
by Dustinxrx
Summary: A police officer,A mercenary,And a teenage rock band.This group must work together to escape a quarantined Atlanta,and their own personal nightmares. A virus throughout the city causing a zombie outbreak.
1. It Begins

"6 months have passed since the Nuclear incident in Raccoon City and the pharmaceutical mega-corporation Umbrella lost over 500 of its employees, severely crippling the massive organization. This, coupled with many reports that Umbrella was somehow linked to the disaster has led to an unsurprisingly large drop in Umbrella stock prices. One company that is benefiting from this tragedy however, is the Umbrella rival company, Tricell, who has been quick to help all of the survivors of the Raccoon City incident."

"Abby, turn that off," Blake said as he walked by. The young girl didn't respond. She just kept her eyes glued to the screen. "Abby! Turn it off!" Blake said, more demanding.

"But I want to know what happened where Jeffrey lived," she whined.

"Their nuclear plant overheated and blew everything up," Blake told her bluntly. "You know that. I've told you at least ten times."

"I miss Jeffrey," she said as the T.V. went blank. Blake sighed.

"I know... I do too..." he trailed off, still thinking back to the phone call he got the day the Raccoon City incident occurred. How frantic his brother's words were. The crazy story, the horrific tale... Zombies and monsters.

"He was insane," Blake reassured himself. "The police forces will do that to you..."

"Blake! Blake! Something is wrong here. Something isn't right. Someone bit me. Took a big chunk out of my arm... I shot him and he just kept coming... Tell everyone..."

"Blake!" Abby nearly screamed. "Mommy wants to talk to you," she said handing him the phone.

"Yeah?"


	2. Meet Joshua Coal

The sun was setting on the shores of the island paradise Aruba, the wind blowing at a steady pace making the 95 degree weather seem much cooler than it should.

Katrina Coal was standing on the beach, looking out across the calm, vast ocean as the setting sun reflected an amber glow on the waters surface. She pulled her arms in close and hugged herself against the wind, her white sundress wrapping around her frame, accentuating her curves.

The tropical sun had bronzed her skin even more than it normally was over the past nine days.

It was the last night of her honeymoon. She married the man of her dreams. Her one true love.

Katrina closed her grey eyes as the trade winds kicked up sand off the beach and into her eyes, her dark brown hair blowing in the wind.

"Beautiful." called the voice of her husband from behind her. Katrina opened her eyes but did not look back, knowing that he was approaching her.

"Yes it is." she agreed with him. Joshua Coal hugged his young wife from behind, wrapping his arms around her front. In one hand was a glass of champagne for her, and in the other a glass for him. She excepted the glass and squeezed his arms, enjoying the comfort and safety which they granted her.

"I wasn't talking about the sunset goofball," Josh said with a chuckle. "I was talking about you.". Katrina stood there for a moment in silence before she started to wretch.

"Cheesy, hun. Even for you."

"Oh yeah?" Josh said, kissing her cheek.

"Yeah!" Katrina said, with a giggle.

Josh turned her around to face him and kissed her again. A long, drawn out kiss, complete with the "Muah!" at the end. Katrina laughed.

"Dork."

"Yeah," Josh agreed. "But you still love me."

Katrina looked up into her man's deep blue eyes. He was wearing a white long sleeve shirt and white pants. His black hair was worn short on his head, and his tall, atheletic frame complimented her's. He was the most beautiful man that Katrina had ever seen. And he loved her.

"Son of a bitch" Katrina thought. "I must be doing something right." But she knew that even if his beauty was taken away by time, disease, or a hazard from his career. Even if all that was left of him was his ring finger, his smile, and his love for her, then they would make it. They would survive.

"Yes" Katrina said. "I really, really do love you."

"Forever and ever." Josh said with a disarming smile.

"Forever and ever." Katrina replied before pulling him down to her level and kissing him long and hard. The winds chose that moment to pick up speed, throwing sand into their faces as they held their romantic embrace. An Albatross soared overhead and began to caw. It circled twenty feet above them and continued to caw, getting louder and louder with each pass. Soon the Albatross's caw started to sound alot like "Coal!Coal!Coal!"

"Mister Coal." the secretary said for the fourth time. Joshua Coal came out of his daydream in the waiting room of the Atlanta Metropolitan Police Department. He had a job interview with the Captain. And he was dressed for success. A cleanly pressed Grey suit, black shirt, and black tie, complete with the polished balck shoes.

"The Captain will see you now." the secretary said with that classic professional, no nonsense tone.

Coal stood and picked up his black briefcase from its position on the floor.

"Thank you." he said, crossing the room towards her as she opened the door along the far wall which would lead them to the Captain's office and hopefully to the next, less terrifying and heart wrenching chapter of his life. Hopefully.

Coal followed her through the door and down a long, tiled hallway. Along the left wall were pictures of every Police Officer which held command over this precinct since its establishment in 1887. It was a new building of course but it was the same beat. The final picture belonged to Coal's potential new boss, Captain Simon Walker. A short, stout man of forty-five years of age, thinning hair, and a sometimes volatile temper.

No matter. Josh was prepared, as always. Well, not always. None of them were prepared for what happened six months ago in...

"Right through here Mister Coal." the secretary said, bringing him out of the darkness of the abyss which was his mind. They passed through a set of double doors and crossed to a flight of large, spiral stairs. In the center of the room, emblazoned across the tiled floor, was the state seal of Georgia, and drapped on the far wall were the American flag and Georgia's state flag. They went up the stairs and down another carpeted hallway, and the secretary stopped at the last door on the right. The glass read "Captain Walker".

"Here you are, Mister Coal. He's waiting."

Coal nodded to the woman and without hesitation opened the door and walked in


	3. Meet Ethan Rayne

(Underground, The Hive)

"Run, damn it run!" Ethan Rayne bellowed to his african partner of 14 years.

" hold the door, Ethan! Hold the door!" The African screamed limping pathetically towards him.

"Saul....move your ass!"Ethan screamed blood trickling down his arm, his black 9 mm Beretta in hand, only 5 shots remained in the clip. A football field distance remained in the dark hallway between Ethan and Saul. The black man whimpered as blood poured down his leg,a bite bleeding profusely from his thigh. The slow crowd behind the man spitting distance behind him.

" We have been through worse, right?" Saul asked, almost pleading encouragement from his longtime partner. Ethan didn't respond.

" I can't risk it." Ethan said in a different scared tone that his partner had not herd before. Saul looked up quickly as he continued limping.

" Don't you do it.... you owe me from Cuba....YOU FUCKING OWE ME!" Saul screamed.

"when you get to the door, eat your gun my friend." Ethan said with a short frown. All that rang in ethan's ears as he was shutting the soundproof door was his old friend screaming

"COWARD!"

(Three Hours Earlier, The Hive.)

Ethan rayne hated elevators, he hated most people. So naturally being stuck with both was a horrible morning awakening. The 37 year old man stood at an even 6 foot. His hair was short and dark brown, his receding hair line often caught peoples attention. Alot of people said he looked like a young Kevin spacey. He hated it when people said it, he herd it every day since his hair started to fall out.

" you look chipper" Saul said looking at his partner.

" I am jet lagged and not wanting to be 900 feet underground rubbing shoulders with the white coats. They look at tactical personnel like walking muscle and I hate it." Ethan spat

" you really need to work on your people skills" the African said smiling to the other people in the elevator.

"No Saul, I really do not. Lets just pick up the fucking package and take it to the airport, and go back to London. So I can go back to Brazil to shoot at the fucking spic gorillas that fuck with our corporations research camps, that's what I am paid to do, that's what I want to do. I am not a little errand boy." Ethan muttered.

The Mexican woman in a lab coat next to him scowled.

" Oh don't fucking give me that bitchy little bitch look, OK, please lady. I am hungover like nobodies business. Yes i said spic, yes i said i kill spics, your a spic, your a spic i am not killing, so keep your spic eyes to yourself and keep putting checkmarks on your fucking clipboard, make the Ebola virus worse this week, fuck you" Ethan ranted.

"Seriously, people skills." Saul said frowning.

" Oh fuck off with the lectures. Go lecture the diamond hungry corporations. its 9:00 a.m. So I am assuming only 30 hands have been cut off today in Africa, So shut the fuck up!" Ethan retorted. The elevator doors opened.

In the clearing stood a beautiful red head in a lab coat.

" Hello ello red, names Ethan, I was just telling my friend Saul here how much I respect scientists, beautiful ones at that" Ethan said with quite the charm. The red headed woman smiled as Ethan and Saul walked past her. After going through several check points and corridors they made there way to a viewing room. In which vials were being placed into a briefcase by men in bio suits.

" oh fuck this shit sideways son. Fucking Ebola virus, what did i tell you Saul eh?" Ethan grumbled.

" Ethan don't make a scene" Saul sighed.

" What? They wont have me carrying that fucking shit around now eh? No. I watch the discovery channel like the rest of the fucking world. That shit ends up in the ocean and fucking monkeys make me get small pox." Ethan started to rant before a red flashing light went off in the room. a cool calm female voice said repetitively over and over

" containment leak, evacuate."

Saul looked at his partner who stomped a foot and rolled his eyes

" fucking monkeys, i fucking knew it." Ethan shouted


	4. Preperations

The strain of guitar chords echoed through the empty halls, and the clash of cymbals fought to overpower them. Outside, one could hear the roar of thunder, but nature's call couldn't reach the ears of the 5 teens.

"She's never felt so broken... As she clutches her neck!"

"Are we gonna be ready by Sunday?" Blake asked, moving the mic stand away from his mouth and pushing his guitar to the side.

"We've still got 3 days," Herald, the lead guitarist said, grabbing his nearby Heineken and taking a large swig of it.

"We'll be ready," Theo reassured, turning his synthesizer off for the time being.

"Where are your parents tonight?" Blake asked the drummer, Paul.

"I don't know," he mumbled. "Out getting drunk at some party probably. They said they wouldn't home until around 3 or so. We've still got 2 hours."

Blake took his guitar off and set it against the closest amp. He pushed his platinum blond hair out of his eyes and sat down, opening up a new Heineken and taking a small sip.

"You think we should keep going or call it quits for the night?" he asked the others. It was a unanimous "quit" from the group.

"Agreed," Blake said. "Just think though. Our first show is in 3 days guys. Let's have it go down without a hitch."


	5. A New End

"Sergeant Coal!" Captain Walker said morosely, rising from his desk and crossing his spacious, well furnished office to shake the younger officer's hand. The Captain squeezed Coal's hand so hard that he thought it would break, but he squeezed back just as hard. The Captain was testing him. "Please have a seat Sergeant." The Captain said gesturing to one of the two padded leather chairs in front of his very large, clean, glass topped, red wood desk. Coal thanked his superior and sat down as instructed as the Captain took his place behind his desk in what looked to be a very comfortable, and expensive, leather chair.

"You come highly recommended, Sergeant Coal. It's an honor to finally meet you. Now I get to put a face with the voice I have heard so many times over the phone." The Captain said with a hearty laugh.

"Yes sir you do. But it is my honor to finally meet you. You have made quite the name for yourself during your twenty-five year career." Coal said.

The Captain raised his eye brows in delight. He was an old school cop, therefore, he was happier than a pig-in-shit when he was shown respect.

"You've done your homework, I see."

"Yes sir I have."

"That's good, Sergeant. We need more cops like you. Good cops, hard workers, and smart. And from what I've read in your resume you seem to have all three of those qualities."

"Oh come now, Captain." Coal said modestly. "That whole resume thing is just words on a paper."

"Nonsense," the Captain said dismissively. "Don't be so modest, Sergeant. I'm certain you earned all of that praise which has been given to you. By the way, do you happen to have a copy of your resume? I seem to have misplaced yours."

Coal doubted that this man had ever misplaced anything in his entire life. His office, attire, and everything else about the man screamed neat freak. He loved to be in control and his position as Captain had him in just that. Control. But Coal understood, it was a common interview technique to see if he was prepared. And he indeed was.

Without a word Coal placed his briefcase on his lap to retrieve a copy of his resume. When he unlatched and opened it a picture of him and his wife Katrina was staring him in his face. It was a great picture of them, one of his favorites. Katrina was wearing one of his New York Yankees hats. They were at their place watching the Yanks clench another title as World champions. The angle of the picture and the way Coal's arm disappeared from view told that he was the one who took it of the two of them. That picture was just over a year old, just before they were married and six months before…

Coal handed the Captain his resume, pulling himself out of the darkness. The Captain took it from him gingerly and began to thumb through it.

"Hmm…" he said, stroking his chin. "Being a cop wasn't always your dream, was it Sergeant?"

"No sir." Coal replied. "After my first year of College at the University of Colorado I changed my major from American History and Literature to Criminal Justice/Law."

"Why is that? If you don't mind my asking?" he asked curiously.

"Of course not." Coal said. "I changed my major and career choice because of my father. He was a police officer with the Raccoon City Police for twenty years." The Captain's interest peaked when Coal mentioned Raccoon City for the first time. Sure, it was detailed in his resume and record but something like that is not something that one asks unprovoked. "One day," Coal continued. "just after my nineteenth birthday, my father pulled over a driver for running a red light. When my father approached the vehicle the driver shot him. He was pronounced dead on scene."

"Jesus, Josh I'm sorry. Did they ever catch the bastard?"

"Yeah they did. Found him at his mom's house hiding under his bed that very same day an hour later."

The Captain shook his head. "Probably some young punk who just didn't want a ticket." More of a statement than a question and he was right. The kid, Jeremy Noble, went to high school with Coal. They knew each other. He was an unlicensed driver.

"So I became a cop because I wanted to stop people from doing something like that. To stop someone from putting someone else's family through what mine went through. It's what my father would have wanted." Coal laughed. "He hated the idea of me being some high school history teacher."

The Captain smiled and read on in his resume.

"Hmm, wrapped up your bachelor's degree in only two years, went into the Academy, and became an RPD Officer at twenty-one years old. You worked as a beat cop for four years. Made quite the name for yourself and at twenty-five you were brought onto the renowned Special Tactics and Rescue Squad. S.T.A.R.S." the Captain said, throwing out the acronymn of Coal's former team.

Coal nodded his head. "Yes sir, that is correct."

"You were with the STARS for two years, and two months before the..." the Captain paused and cleared his throat. "The Raccoon City Incident..."

"Thats what it is now." Coal thought. "Its an incident, an accident, a secret."

"You were given command over the STARS Green Team." the Captain finished.

"Yes sir. There were five six officer teams which made up the STARS. Red team, Blue team, Green team, Yellow team, and Black team."

"You must have impressed your commanding officers, Sergeant. Giving command of one of their very active tactical teams to a mere six year veteran of the force."

"I suppose so, sir." Coal said coolly.

"I know that I don't have to tell you this, but..." the Captain searched his mind for the right words. "you are one of the few survivors of the Raccoon City Incident, and one of even fewer STARS survivors."

The Captain was right. He didn't have to tell him that. But it was ok, he had come to accept this kind of attention over the past six months. That's why he normally chose to keep the fact that he survived Raccoon to himself. He didn't like the attention, and he hated the memories it brought forth.

Only three STARS members survived the initial infection and made it out of the city before the nuke hit. They were Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and himself. Coal had known the other two since he had joined the force. First just in mere passing as a rookie cop, and then as a trusted team member and team leader. They became friends, went to eachothers cookouts, and parties. Chris was a groomsman at Coal's wedding, Jill gave them a very generous wedding gift. Coal hadn't seen or spoken to either of them since the infection hit. The only reason that he knew they had survived was because their pictures were on the news along side his and the few other survivors, telling the world the "lucky" few that survived.

"Yes sir." Coal agreed.

The Captain studied Coal for a few long seconds before standing. Coal did the same.

"Sergeant, I don't need something to be laid out in front of me to know a good thing when I see one. However, the brass does, but they will notice it too. I garuntee. So consider this your unofficial hiring onto the force. Congratulations." The Captain exended his hand and Coal shook it.

"Thank you sir."

"It may be a few days before the contracts are drawn up and it becomes official. And if there is anything in the contracts that you don't like or want changed then just say the word and it will be changed with...minimal difficulty I'm sure."

Coal picked up his briefcase and the Captain led him to the door.

"We'll be in touch, Sergeant."

The Whadaya Have Bar: 1:15am

Coal came out of his daydream staring into the empty glass which once contained his whiskey/sour. He was just going over the interview in his head, as he did with many things now a days. It was only during his daydreams that they were happy memories. It was when he slept that his dreams became nightmares, plagued by fear, sadness, and hatred.

"Wanna 'nother?" the bartender asked him. Coal nodded in agreement and his glass was refilled.

"Thanks" Coal said dryly as the bartender walked away.

Coal swiveled in his stool to face the opposite direction. It was a nice little spot that Coal had stumbled upon a few hours earlier. Not too busy, but not completly dead either. Waitresses moving here and there, a group of college students laughing at a booth in the corner and a few other guys playing darts and pool over by the pinball machine in the back of the place. It wasn't too far from Coal's apartment either, only about a mile and a half. Easy walking distance, which he would have to do tonight. He had been sucking down these whiskey/sours for nearly three hours now and he was starting to feel them.

Coal swiveled back towards the bar and motioned for the bartender to give him one more drink and to double up on the whiskey this time. The bartender did as instructed and left for other tasks.

"Oh I just hate these places don't you?" asked a voice next to him. Coal turned to look and saw one of the female college students, which was sitting in the booth with her friends, sitting a stool down from him. She was attractive in that sluty, attainable sort of way. Coal raised his eyebrows at her and continued to drink.

"I'm Angela." she said sweetly.

"Thats nice." Coal said, not even bothering to look at her.

Angela moved to the open stool next to him.

"This is where you tell me your name." she said. Coal simply looked at her with a dead gaze. She had bleached blond hair and some sort of Soroity shirt on her torso barley covering her fake breasts and he could smell the appletinis on her breath. Coal would bet his bottom dollar that she had been fucked more times than she had hot meals in her life. And if she didn't leave him alone then he would voice these thoughts to her.

"Well?" she asked.

Coal rolled his eyes and groaned. "Joshua Caol." he said.

"I'm Angela." she said.

"Yeah, you said that already." Coal said, agitation sweeping into his voice.

"You wanna get outa here?" Angela asked, gripping her hand between Coal's legs.

This was pathetic. Obviously Daddy either loved her too much or not enough.

"Get away from me, Angela." Coal said.

"What?" Angela asked. Obviously her smooth pick-up tactics have never failed her until now.

"I said get away from me!" Coal snapped. "I aint your dick boy so find your orgasms somewhere else."

Angela stood up in a huff. "Go to hell, asshole!"

"Already been there, Angela." Coal said, finishing his drink and dropping a fifty on his empty glass. That should cover it.

Coal walked out of the bar straightening his suit jacket as he went. It was a cool night, and the stars were shining bright. Coal stroud down the sidewalk, street lamps illuminating his path, humming "A Harlem Nocturne" as he went.


	6. Not Quite Alone

Ethan shrugged to himself coldly as he headed down the dark corridor of the Hive. He had killed Saul. His only friend, but it had to be done. The man would have died anyhow, he was bleeding out. It would have only taken a matter of time, and then he would just turn. becoming another obstacle in Ethan's escape.

" He was slowing you down." Ethan said to himself wiping the sweat from his brow.

As he advanced in the darkness he herd a clutter ahead of him, Ethan drew his Beretta.

" If your fucking alive you have about two fucking seconds before you aren't anymore, talk." Ethan said loud and stern.

One second passed before a male voice spoke out nearly crying.

" I'm alive, d-dont shoot ok?". Ethan squinted in the dark.

" Who are you?" The Englishmen asked.

"My name is Mike, I'm a security guard."

Instantly Ethan walked forward to the man, as he got closer he could make out a person in a tan security style uniform.

"Ok, Ok Mike. First off do you have a fucking gun?" Ethan asked.

The man stammered at how quickly Ethan had asked the question.

"Retarded? Got the downs? A gun, do you have one? You put bullets in it, It goes bang, things bleed." Ethan said annoyed with the mans time frame of answering the question.

"Yes I have a gun." The man said sounding hurt by Ethan's comment.

"Ok give it to me I am a better shot than you." Ethan said extending his hand. " It's a snub revolver." Mike said with a smile.

" Yeah a gun to have pride in, the fucking things break in two seconds. Alot of good it will do me." Ethan said stuffing the tiny gun into the small of his back.

" I don't know if any gun can kill these things." Mike said following Ethan as he walked.

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked opening a door slowly, then walking into a wide spaced room with desks and chairs. It looked like an office.

" I shot one in the chest twice, nobody can take that." Mike said following still, the man had a large stomach and waddled behind Ethan.

"Plenty can, your just American and don't know any better. I watched an African slaver on PCP stand up after he had been shot with a 12 gauge point blank once." Ethan said looking around as they moved forward cautiously in the dark.

" Why would you watch that?" mike asked.

" Because i shot the bugger, duh. and stop being questiony, your like a little girl asking mom about cooking. I mean really stubbs, did you even graduate high school?" Ethan asked.

"Well, erm, no. No i didn't" Mike said slowly.

" And someone in my company saw your resume and was like " I must put this man on my security team in this secret underground, illegal base." I mean stupid shit like that is why i am quiting my job the second I get a decent fucking cell phone signal." Ethan ranted quietly as they neared an emergency stairwell. together the men rammed through the locked door. As they entered the stairwell they were overwhelmed by moaning below them.

" Why are you still here by the way?" Ethan asked his new companion.

"Well your saving me aren't you?" Mike asked.

" Pssh, fuck no I just stole your gun, It was all that I wanted."Ethan exclaimed as mike looked downstairs.

" look out! The bastards bite hard!" Mike said pointing to the slowly advancing crowd below them. Ethan squinted as the annoyance of what the man said hit him.

" One bit you?" he asked.

" Yeah one in the arm, nasty bastards right?" Mike said, smiling showing his wound on his forearm. Faking interest Ethan went wide eyed and sounded flabbergasted.

"Yeah!" He said before shooting the man in the knee, and kicking him down the stairwell.

"Choke on him, please!" Ethan shouted walking upstairs, getting slightly closer to being home free.


	7. Brewing Storm

The gig was at the Gauntlet, a small little club in the middle of Atlanta City. It wasn't much, but according to the owner, three other bands had their first show at the place, and all three made it big.

Blake and the others stood outside the back of the club. Paul took the final hit of a cigarette and threw it into the cool, blowing wind. Blake let his rest between his lips as his mother rattled away at him over the phone.

"Nathanial Blake Thompson! I told you to pick up your clothes before you left to rock the masses," Paul joked.

"Shut it," Blake said beneath his breath. "Yes mother," he said before shutting the phone loudly.

"So when do you have to be home tonight?" Theo asked condescendingly.

"Fuck off," Blake responded as he flicked his cigarette butt at him.

"No, I'm serious," Theo continued. "I don't want you to get grounded and not be able to go to church tomorrow."

"Oh dear. No god," Blake said sarcastically. "If only if only..."

"Just tell her to shove that god shit right up her vag," Herald blurted. "Maybe it will replace all that sand she's got up there." The others all busted out in laughter.

"I am not amused," Blake joked. "Is all the shit setup? Can we just go up there and start?"

"Nah," Herald answered. "Dude said about 15 minutes. Lucky it isn't all that cold out here. Fucking drinking age. Dude won't even let us in unless we're playing."

"How much time do we got?" Luke, the bassist, asked.

"I just fucking told you, 15 minutes," Herald shouted. "Open your goddamn ears."

"I meant to play, you fucktard," Luke shouted back.

"Oh," Herald said. "45 minutes he said. Enough time."

"What are we starting with?" Luke asked.

Herald's answer was drowned out by a cop siren. Seconds later, the car zipped on by, lights flaring and siren blaring. It went by at at least 70 the wrong way on a one way street.

"Damn," Theo said, lighting up a fresh cigarette. "Where's the fire?"

"Its a cop dumbass," Herald said, also lighting up a fresh one. "Wouldn't be a fire."

"What do you guys think about opening with Broken Crucifix?" Blake asked as they all stared at the cloud of dust that still remained from

the speeding cop.


	8. Sleeping sorrows

Raccoon City, Colorado, six months ago

It was 9 am on a Saturday morning and Coal and Katrina were sleeping in. They both were on call, Coal with the department and Katrina with the hospital, she was an EMT. For the past few months Raccoon had been plagued by murders and disappearances. The bodies found with scratch and bite marks being the cause of deaths. After months of no leads the police had finally caught a break. They believed that the cause for these deaths and disappearances were the workings of a cult, one that they believed to be located at the old Spencer estate deep in the woods on the outskirts of the city. Two nights ago the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team was sent to the estate to investigate. They dropped off the grid and out of contact. Twenty-four hours ago the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team was sent to find them and continue on with the investigation. They too have not been heard from since, so Coal wasn't surprised when his work cell phone rang on the night stand bringing him out of his much deserved and needed rest.

Katrina groaned and nuzzled closer to him. "I hate that damn thing." She whispered.

Coal kissed her head and reached for his phone. "So do I."

He answered without bothering to look at the caller id, knowing that it didn't matter who would ruin his day, just that someone would. "Hello?" he asked groggily.

"Josh." The caller said. It was Isaac Sayer, Coal's friend and second in command of Charlie team.

"What's up, Isaac? Did we hear anything from Alpha or Bravo?" Coal asked, expecting the worse.

"I just received a call from the Captain; they're calling in all STARS teams and officers." Isaac said, leaving Coal's original question unanswered.

"What? Why?" Coal asked. "What's happened?"

"Are you watching the news?"

"No."

"Turn it on."

Coal sat up in bed, rousing Katrina. She stretched and yawned as he grabbed the remote and turned on his television, the channel already on the channel 6 news station. What Coal saw jerked him into full consciousness. People rioting in the streets, attacking each other.

"What the fuck is this?" Coal asked no one in particular. Isaac answered.

"This is what's happening now. The cities going insane. People are tearing each other apart out there."

"Where is this happening?" Coal asked. The news reporter answered.

"I am standing in downtown Raccoon city where citizens are going mad. Apparently this all started when a motorist struck a man with his vehicle. The man had wandered into traffic, stumbling as if he were drunk and moaning, yes, moaning as if he were injured. That is when he was hit with the vehicle. The driver called police and paramedics and exited his vehicle to check on the man, who then bit him on his arm. When the driver was unable to pull from his grasp, several bystanders came to his aide, pulling the man off of the other, a few of them also being bitten and scratched in the process. The man, who was struck by the vehicle, apparently made it back to his feet despite his injuries and began attacking other people in the area, some dying from injuries to the throat. Minutes later the police arrived and the man tried to attack them, as well. The police opened fire on the man but he continued coming after them. The other people who others thought had died from their wounds then got up and started to attack others. And the situation has just gotten worse from there."

"Jesus Christ!" Coal exclaimed.

"Oh my God…" Katrina whispered.

"How long has this been going on?" Coal asked, fearing that he had missed several calls before answering this one.

"Not long, man." Isaac said. "I just got the call and I told the Captain that I would call you. We're supposed to meet at the precinct. More uniformed officers have been dispatched there and the STARS are being given assignments in our unit. Josh, I heard that the military is on it's way and that Umbrella is calling in their security experts to help us on the ground. Do you think this has something to do with them and their experiments?"

Coal did think it had something to do with them, and that it very well may have something to do with what has happened to Alpha and Bravo teams at the Spencer Estate. But now wasn't the time for that. Katrina's cell phone rang. It was the hospital and they began telling her everything that Coal had just been told.

"I don't know bro. Just get to the station. I'll see you and the rest of the team there."

"Yes sir." Isaac said before hanging up the phone.

Coal and his wife sat in silence for a moment unsure of what to say. Katrina broke that silence.

"What the hell is going on, baby?"

Coal sat for a moment longer before grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight. "I don't know, sweetie. I don't know."

They both then began dressing for their duties. Katrina pulling on her blue EMT uniform and Coal with his combat boots, tan cargo pants, black leg holster with his Glock 9mm with fire compensator and flashlight attachment, white STARS t-shirt and OD green tactical vest. Katrina grabbed her medical tool bag from the closet. The healer. Coal grabbed his weapon case which housed his Scope mounted tactical M4 carbine. The killer.

"I've gotta go to the hospital." Katrina said. "They're sending us out from there."

"Yeah," Coal said. "I'm going to the station; they're giving us our orders there."

They started out of their home at that point. Walking from the bedroom, through the living room, into the kitchen and out to their parked vehicles.

"The hospital is going to get flooded with injured people." Coal said.

"And you're going to be in the thick with all of those crazy one's." Katrina said, her eyes glassing over with unshed tears.

"Hey…" Coal said embracing her, slightly surprised at how hard she held him, not wanting him to leave her arms. "It'll all be okay. We'll see each other again. I'll come for you."

Katrina sniffled into his tactical vest. "Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise." Coal whispered into her hair.

She pulled away from his chest and the two young lovers kissed long and hard.

She broke away. "I love you." She said, her tear soaked grey eyes locking with his bright blue.

"Forever and ever." Coal said with his classic disarming smile.

"Forever and ever." Katrina replied.

They each entered their separate cars and drove off. They were both several miles away from their places of employment and they had to travel fast. So they turned on their vehicle's sirens and continued along the same path until they had to part ways.

If Coal knew where and how that day would end, then he would have thought of something better to say than what they always said to each other.

Forever and ever.

Coal awoke on his couch, the television saying how he had to act fast or the deal would expire, empty containers of Chinese food and some soda cans lying on the coffee table in front of him, and a file resting on his chest. This file was that of his team leader who he would meet on Monday morning. He received a call back from his Captain by 5pm the day of his interview, informing him that he was hired and would become a member of that precincts well known, and somewhat controversial Strike team. It was a Specialized Gang unit which dealt with all things gang related for the entire district. Drugs, murder, burglary, robbery, rape, and a plethora of other things which delved into the gang underworld. The file he was reading before he fell asleep belonged to his new boss Detective Vic Mackey. He had already read his other team mates files. Their names were Shane Vendrell, Curtis Lemansky, and Ronnie Gardockey. All of their jackets were spotty at best but none of that bothered Coal. They all had to do things that fell into the grey area of the law at times, and regardless of their records, this seemed like a good team. A team that would stick by each other no matter what come hell or high water. Much like Coal's old team…

Coal glanced at his watch; 11:32pm. It was still early, and Coal's dream during his nap had made him not want to sleep anytime soon. Coal decided that he had done enough reading for one night, slipped on his tennis shoes and walked into his bedroom. He reached in his closet and pulled out his shoulder holster. He then went to his night stand and from a drawer pulled his Glock 9mm, checked to ensure it was loaded and holstered it, having it dangle beneath his left armpit. Wherever he went, it went. It had served him well. Coal then put on his leather jacket and left his apartment for the nearby bar "Whadaya Have?"


	9. Important Things To Do

Ethan finally reached the surface emergency exit. It was a small dark room, he had been in the dark for nearly three days. His eyes were long since adjusted, It was as clear as day to him, the control console was in the corner, a few switches and a few presses of buttons and he would be out of this dark hole. With a quick stride he went to the console. There was no power.

"A billion dollar secret lab and no back up generator. Fucking idiots, everyone but me, I fucking swear." Ethan growled drawing his snub nose, it only had two shots left. he was careful about wasting ammo. He pulled the hammer back and fired a round into the console. with a flicker of power the emergency door unlocked.

" I preform miracles, might as well put on a robe and call myself a messiah." He joked walking to the door and opening it to reveal only more darkness, but the darkness was accompanied with noise of nature, and a light breeze. He was outside. Ethan slammed the door behind him to make sure none of the freaks could get out. He looked at the door he just walked out of, A solid red door on the side of a cliff." Fucking clever hidden entrance. Fuck I mean shit... If I designed a door I would look at this and go "cliff side entrance door eh? What can I do to make this doorway not draw attention? Oh! I know rock, RED FUCKING DOOR, more rock. genius !!!" He vented turning away and going down the dirt pathway he could make out. He herd cars drive by. He was near the highway. Maybe a mile or two out of town. As he went towards the sound of vehicles Ethan saw the crude dirt path turn into a cement sidewalk. A wooden railing was now on his right. A stumbling woman was walking towards him. she was a short haired woman in a lab coat, that gave it away quite quickly. The woman wasn't alive.

" fucking hell you bastards are out here too?" He grumbled as the woman reached out with its right hand. He was angered by the sight of the creature, he thought this day was over. He kicked forward, the woman let out a guttural moan as it bent downward before him. Ethan wrapped his arm around her neck and quickly wrenched upward, snapping the neck of the woman. the body dropped and Ethan wiped his now runny nose. The woods always gave him allergies.

"Fucking spruce is so fucking annoying" He muttered. He was allergic to any tree with any type of spruce.

"This is why i love being in another fucking hemisphere. I'm to far away from anything remotely spruce- like." He said walking still while he rubbed his eyes in frustration."If there Is one, then there is at least a dozen is not going to end well." He said quietly to himself as he was climbing over a concrete divider. He was on the highway now, he looked around, it was quite empty as far as traffic was concerned. He looked towards Atlanta. The tall buildings glittered in the night. Ethan walked towards the city, he watched ahead of him as a parked car window was shattered by a bald fat corpse. The creature pulled a woman out, instantly It was on top of the woman. She screamed as the monster bit into her neck, her main artery spraying wildly, the creature kept gnawing into her as she grew weaker by the second.

"Excuse me" Ethan said politely stepping over them. She reached out in a last effort of desperation as Ethan opened her car door and swept out the glass from the seat and took a seat and shut the door. the car sped off, the last thing the woman saw was the glitter of her red tail lights. Ethan knew it was too late for her, he needed this car. He had to get into town, the creatures would be there soon. He didn't have much time, he had to get there fast There was so many Important things he had to do.

(A Half an hour later.)

Ethan sat quietly in the booth of the burger king, he quickly devoured the whopper before him. Then he drained down his strawberry milkshake. He didn't bother picking up his tray or cleaning up his table. It is called work for a reason after all. He went out the exit and walked across the street to the tailor shop. He entered quite quickly. A small balding Italian man stood before Ethan in a sweater vest and a bow tie.

" may i help you sir.?" he asked.

"Yeah." Ethan replied reaching into the pocket of his cheap slacks.

" This is five grand. Five thousand dollars." He said setting a roll of money on the counter.

" Here are my measurements. I want the best suit, BEST suit you have, three piece, black. I will be back in-" he stopped and looked at his watch and then looked outside. A patrol car speed flying by, flashing lights and all.

"Fifteen minutes, when I come back and if it is competed to my specifications you will get another five grand." The Italian tailor looked blindsided.

"Go" Ethan pointed to the back. The tailor screamed in Italian to his wife to start sewing as fast as possible. Ethan exited the store and looked at the burger king window he just sat at. A chubby 19 year old nearly pouted cleaning up his mess. Ethan smiled walking down the street, he walked to the gun shop a block away. He entered quickly.

"Hey im sorry were closing up." The redneck said walking towards him. Ethan punched the man hard in the nose, the man fell to his knees. Ethan walked passed him and went to the display of hand guns. Ethan slid it open and eyed the revolvers for a second before becoming sick to his stomach.

"Americans." He scoffed turning to look at the glocks he grabbed one, a safety lock still covering the trigger. Ethan turned around only to have enough time to dodge a baseball bat swing, Ethan had let out a gasp.

" ROB ME MOTHERFUCKER!" The man screamed before Ethan stood and punched the man in the throat, crushing the mans larynx. The clerk collapsed gasping for air that would never again come. Ethan frowned at the man on the ground.

" I don't like murdering people who didn't have it coming. So don't take this personal." Ethan said pulling a set of keys from the mans flannel shirt pocket. Ethan walked away back to the gun case, Ethan unlocked the safety lock. Ethan also grabbed a Walther ppk pistol as well.

He grabbed a duffel bag and tossed in boxes of ammo, clips, holsters. anything he needed. he quickly went to the cash register of the gun shop and opened it, taking out five hundred dollars. behind him, Ethan grabbed a pack of Marlboro lights and a small bottle of jack Daniels. He zipped up the bag and ripped off his tie and walked back outside. Ethan quickly made his way back to the tailor shop. he was greeted to a frowning Italian man.

" you forgot to give us the measurement for your jacket." he said sighing but with a smile. Ethan let out an

"Ugh".

Ethan stood in front of three complementing mirrors. He tended to get narcissistic in front of mirrors. He wore new black slacks, a black dress shirt, a black vest, a white hankie was loose in the vest pocket. A cigarette was snug in between his lips. A glass of booze on the shelf next to him. He had told the tailor he was a police officer, he was just finishing up loading the final clip he needed as the Tailor came back into the room holding his jacket. Ethan slipped on the dual shoulder holster. Two clip holsters dangled below each gun. Under his left arm was his 9mm Beretta, under his right arm was his glock. On Ethan's right hip was the Walther ppk. Two clips were holstered for that on his belt on his left hip. Ethan smiled into the mirror as he cracked his neck. He tightened his tie. Quickly Ethan slid on his suit jacket.

"Your a bad, bad, man Ethan." Ethan said with a smirk.

" I can give you five thousand more, but in credit." Ethan said swiping his credit card. The Italian frowned looking at his computer. "Sir....your credit accounts are frozen."

Ethan had on a toothy smile hiding his rage.

"What?" he asked through gritted teeth. The Italian gave him his card back. Ethan pulled out his phone and called his boss.

" Alexander!." Ethan said as the phone was picked up.

"My accounts are frozen, why?" Ethan asked.

" There is a breech of security at your location. The higher ups cant afford any media leak when this situation ends. You have been burned, I'm sorry Ethan." The phone clicked off. Ethan frowned before letting out a chuckle, he called back. the secretary answered.

" Put your boss on!" Ethan shouted. The woman simply hung up. Ethan threw the phone and walked out. He went to his tan sedan, Then he got inside and drove. He was getting out of town before the quarantine was going to get put up. Then get to the nearest plane. Get off at london, drive to his former employer's office. And then kill him.


	10. Band Problems

Burn down the alters.

Fire up the engines.

That's the last lie out of you.

Blake's screams filled the large room, the audience watching the band, completely captivated.

"Alright, that was 'Sin'" Blake said, taking a drink of water. "We wanna thank you for coming tonight. We hope that you remember us fondly as you nurse your hangovers tomorrow."

The line got a chuckle from the men still sober enough to know what was happening.

"I guess since we're at the end of our show, now would be a good time to introduce the band."

"On lead guitar, Herald Stevenson."

"On bass, Derrick Luke."

"On drums, Paul Ashton."

"And on the keys, Theo Blancha."

"I am Blake Thompson, and together, we are 'Silent Icarus'"

"We've got one more song for you tonight," Blake continued, finishing off his water bottle and moving onto another. "And its a doozy. Its called 'Deicide', and we hope you enjoy it."

The band started playing, and thirty seconds in, their was a scream, but not from Blake. From outside the bars doors. Quickly after, a large, muscular man, the bouncer, came rushing inside, holding his neck as it poured blood.

"Cool it guys," Blake said into the mic as he saw it. The man was staggering back and forth, barely staying up.

"Just keep playing boys," the owner yelled over the man's ramblings. He helped the injured man into a back room, presumably the owner's private office, and the drunken patrons seemed to forget all about it. They merely shifted their gaze back to the band and awaited the final song.

"Out of sight, out of mind, eh?" Blake joked to the drunks. "Alright, let's pick this back up."

The band once again started up their song, and this time, managed to finish it.

* * * * *

"For our first show, that went over nicely," Theo said as he placed his synth in the back of his van.

"Agreed," Harold said. "No one noticed that you fucked up either."

"Ha ha," Theo replied sarcastically, taking a drink of Heineken.

"No, but they did notice when you fucked up Harold," Luke said. "During the solo on 'Broken'. You royally screwed that song."

"At least people can hear when I fuck up," Harold replied.

"And you do a lot," Luke retorted.

"Guys, stop fighting," Blake said. "You both suck. Let's just leave it at that and call it a night." All but Harold laughed.

"Aw fuck off. What's the point of having a bassist if you can't fucking... hear... him," Herald trailed as he stared at a stumbling figure in the back doorway of the bar. The figure moaned loudly.

"Looks like a drunk got out," Blake joked. The man pushed off the door and stumbled towards them. Harold casually started approaching him.

"Look bud, we don't do autographs," he said, reaching out to put his hand on the drunkards shoulder. That's when he caught a good look at him.

"Guys, its that bouncer," Harold said, turning back to the others.

"Nothing like alcohol to douse the pain of whatever happened to him," Theo joked.

"That's what I'd want," Harold admitted. "If anything ever happens to me, just pour some booze down my throat and call it a day."

Harold's laugh quickly turned to a panicked cry as the bouncer grabbed his extended arm and bit deep into his forearm.

"What the fuckin' fuck!" Harold yelled as he yanked his arm away from the man, flinging blood everywhere.

"Fucking gross!" Paul yelled, jumping back. "You got blood all over me, you asshole!"

"Fuckin' help me!" Harold yelled. He quickly turned and ran from the crazed man, hopping into the back of the van.

"Harold, can you move the rest of your arm?" Blake yelled.

"Yeah, its alright," he responded after a short silence. "Bleeding a lot. Hurts like a bitch. It's pretty deep, but doesn't seem damaged."

"Then quit being a pussy," Blake yelled back. "You're fine."

"Slag off!"

"Guys?" Luke said, gesturing towards the bouncer. Behind him was another familiar face, the bar owner. His once white shirt was now covered in red.

Blood.

"What the fuck is happening?" Harold asked no one. The bouncer inched closer. He was closest to Blake.

"Let's just get in the van and leave," Paul suggested. Everyone muttered in agreement. Theo jumped in the driver's seat and started it up. Luke grabbed the passenger seat. Paul and Blake sat in the back with Harold, who had stripped his undershirt and had it wrapped around his wound.

"Lets get out of here now," Harold said as the bouncer and bar owner pounded on the doors and windows, staring inside with dead, black eyes.

Theo didn't hesitate, and in seconds, they were on the road.


	11. A Sinner And A Saint

Coal exited Whadaya Have with barely a buzz. For some reason the place was packed tonight. It was all the poor servers could do to refill his glass even once, so, after an hour of sitting there with an empty glass he left some money on the bar and departed for home. He would get drunk there instead and save his cash.

The sirens Coal had first heard on his way to the bar were not only growing nearer but the number of different sirens could be heard as well. He could tell that dozens of emergency vehicles were just blocks from his position. What was happening?

Coal passed an alley, at the end of which was a street lamp, and he heard something which he had come to fear; a moan. Coal froze in his tracks and slowly turned his head to look towards the sound of it at the end of the alley. He heard the not so distant pop pop pop! of gunfire, the sirens blare seemed to increase and helicopters could now be heard on the horizon. "No..." Coal whimpered. "No not again, not here." His fears were realized when the zombie wearing a white umbrella lab coat stepped into the street light twenty feet away. It was once a female and she was missing half of her face. "Oh, dear Jesus, no." Coal said.

Ahead of him he heard a triage of moans and looked to see three more newly reanimated corpses at the intersection twenty feet away. Behind him another two zombies, both wearing police uniforms, stumbled towards him only ten feet away. Coal contorted his face as if he was in extreme pain and in an instant his expression changed to a moodless, placid demeanor. He remembered now what he must do. Coal pulled his Glock from his shoulder holster, aimed at the one in the alley and fired, a hole blossoming on her forehead. Coal turned and dropped the two cops behind him with two bullets, pulled a 180 and did the same to the three at the intersection, blowing their brains all over the pavement. Coal turned in a 360 searching for a target but finding none. He knew that it wouldn't stay that way for long, it never did. The moans could be heard distantly over the blaring sirens. He had to get to his apartment. There, he could gear up and get out of town. It wouldn't be long until Umbrella and the Military quarentined the city of Atlanta if they hadn't already. Coal silently hoped that they had, just so the infection could be contained. Coal, with his trusty Glock at the ready, sprinted for his apartment.

Ethan had his seat reclined all the way back and had his Glock and baretta in either hand crossed over his chest. His vehicle was parked along the curb and turned off. Around him stumbled a dozen zombie bastards.

"Well," Ethan thought. "This is not pleasant."

He had been in this spot, in this position for nearly twenty minutes and the zombies had yet to take notice that he was in the car. A good thing but he was completly trapped.

"Sure," Ethan thought again. "I could probably take them out but what if there are more of the bastards than I previously thought?" For all he knew there were a thousand of them outside his vehicle turned coffin.

"So this is it?" Ethan thought. "I survived countless engagements with some of the vilest bastards known to man only to get eaten alive by some brain dead, southern fucks in this godforsaken, terrible, worthless city called Atlanta, Georgia in the U.S. of fucking A!"

Just when things couldn't get more bleak for Ethan a familiar 9mm gunshot echoed around his car. The zombie closest to his driver's side window spun in place, blood and brains spraying across the window. Another gunshot, followed by another and the zombies continued falling. One fell face down on the hood of his car, another slumped against the passenger side, and he saw the top of one's head disappear.

"9mm hollowpoints." Ethan thought. "And the bloke knows how to shoot."

He felt someone climb up the back of his car and stand on the roof. He saw an empty magazine fall on his windshield and not even a second later the firing continued, empty shell jackets spirling down to roll down the hood of his car. Seconds later silence returned to this street.

The shooter leaped down from the roof landing on the sidewalk next to Ethan's driver's side. He was a little taller than Ethan was, was wearing a leather jacket, had black hair, very blue eyes, and was armed with a beautiful Glock 9mm complete with a fire compensator and flashlight attatchment.

"Nice." Ethan whispered as his rescuer walked up to a downed zombie whose spine was severed by one of his shots. It was paralyzed but technically still "alive", a problem which this man solved with the heel of his boot to it's temple. The man reloaded his Glock and casually looked in the blood smeared window to see Ethan sitting up and staring at him. The man looked puzzled to see Ethan. Ethan rolled down his window a crack and said "Hi."

"Hi." the man responded. "didn't see you there. my name is Joshua Coal."

"Nice to meet you Coal." Ethan said. "My name is Ethan Rayne. I uh, er like your pistol."

"Thanks." Coal said, looking at his pistol. "ya can't go wrong with Glocks."

"No you can not. I've got one myself." Ethan held his weapon up to show Coal who nodded at him.

"What to do now?" Ethan asked himself. "Should I drive away and leave him here? Or should I kill him and take his gun? It sure is a pretty gun. But then again he did save my life. And he is one helluva shot. He may very well prove useful again." Ethan made his decision and unlocked the passenger door.

"Get in, Coal." he said.

Coal didn't hesitate, quickly running around to the passenger side and getting inside.

"Thank you, Ethan." Coal said, wiping sweat from his brow. "I don't know if you already have a plan but I suggest that we go to my apartment. It's just a half mile or so from here. There we can gear up and figure out what to do next."

Ethan laughed. "Well I'm getting the fuck out of town, so if you wish, you can come too."

Coal pointed out the windshield. "Too late. We're quarantined."

Ethan looked and about a hundred yards away was the unmistakable U.S. Military Apache Helicopter, shining a spotlight on the streets. It was too late. The military was here, which meant that Umbrella was also here, which meant that they were indeed quarantined, which simply meant that they were fucked.

Coal wasn't prepared for the violent outburst of curse words from Ethan.


	12. Welcome To My Humble Abode

"FUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ethan shouted loudly in the parked car. Coal shifted his body weight to get as far away from the driver as possible. Ethan balled a fist and swung at the rear view mirror. the mostly plastic item nearly shattered before falling to the floor of the passenger side of the vehicle. Ethan kept screaming a list of English slang and curse words Coal had never herd before, and he knew quite a few on his own. Ethan punched the steering wheels center several times, the horn of the vehicle went off after every blow.

"You get that out of your system now?" Coal asked. Ethan shot him a look and scoffed, putting the vehicle into drive and taking off.

" I fucking knew it, this is how I end. Being eaten alive by the fucking rednecks in the middle of bumfuck U.S. of fucking A. You apple pie eating, Micky mouse humping, Donald Trump ass kissing, Clay Akin cock sucking Yankee fucks!!!" Ethan shouted wildly mowing down a zombie.

"Hey man, they are as good as dead, they aren't targets. You should drive a little bit-" Coal started to say before being cut off by a shouting Ethan.

" So help me god mr. fossil fuel, If the words that come out of your mouth are either better, or safer I will hang you with your seat belt and let you drag the rest of the way to your place." The English man warned pointing as they turned right at an intersection.

"OK." Joshua said throwing up his arms, his driver was crazy, he was going to die. The car drove at the speed of 88 miles an hour down a city street, Ethan easily hit two other zombies.

"OK, man you need to stop hitting the bastards, OK? One its gross, two it could ruin the car, seeing how you haven't let me have word in edge wise i would also like to mention you have taken us the wrong way. My apartment Is the opposite way we have been traveling." Coal let out sternly.

" Oh, OK sorry" Ethan said pulling the handbrake and making the car pull a 180 spin. The car headed back the way it came from. Ethan clipped another zombie sending It spiraling to the pavement.

"OK, dude! You need to drive better!" Coal shouted. Ethan hit the break, catching Josh off guard making him hit the dash. " Ow! Man what the fuck?!" Coal whined holding his forehead. Ethan turned a left to avoid a larger clump of the creatures

." Complain about the driver and you get the kind of driving you think you were getting but really weren't." Ethan said angrily.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Coal groaned grabbing his face in frustration.

" It's up here, two blocks, red brick building." Coal said pointing. Ethan parked next to wear Coal had said and turned the car off.

" Shall we?" Coal asked.

"Why not." Ethan said as they both exited the car, Ethan and Coal both had a glock in hand. Coal fired two shots down the street, nailing head shots on two zombies.

"You will attract attention" Ethan said walking past pushing Coals arm down. The two opened the door of the apartment building and ran inside. Taking the elevator to the floor of Joshua's apartment. Once inside, Coal locked both the normal lock and the deadbolt. Ethan went down the hall casually while Coal was going to the gunlocker he had in the corner of the room near the end of the hallway.

"What do you do again?" Ethan asked poking his head into his new friends bathroom and looking at himself, smiling. Ethans teeth weren't as white as he he got out the first priority was to make a teeth bleaching appointment.

" I am a cop" Coal said from the other room.

"You?" Coal asked.

"I'm involved with contracting." Ethan sighed turning off the bathroom light and walking towards Coals voice, stoping at a photo.

"So your a mercenary? Nice." Coal said as Ethan studied the photo.

" Man that girl in the hallway photo is a peach" Ethan said entering the room Coal was in." Yeah... she was." Coal said somberly. " I mean peaches, mmm I could eat peaches for hours.....Oh! You said was? Oooooooohhhh jeez" Ethan said trying to cut himself off as the man looked at him calmly.

" Ah ha....ooooh, pssshh" Ethan said drawing his gun and and putting the barrel into his mouth and making the distinct "peekow" noise. Then putting the weapon back in its holster.

"The man is insane" Coal thought.


	13. Clueless

"What the fuck was his problem?!" Harold yelled as the put pressure on the wound.

"Drunk," Blake answered.

"I hope to be that drunk one day," Paul joked.

"Here here!" Theo added.

"Yeah, maybe you'll bite each others dicks clean off," Harold growled.

"Oh yeah..." Luke chimed. "Here ya go Harold!" he yelled as he poured a half empty bottle of Heineken on his head.

"What the fuck?!"

"Well, you said if anything happens to you, just pour Heineken down your throat," Luke said. "I'm just carrying out your wishes."

Luke's playfulness was met with a slug to the left cheek.

"Big man, eh?" Luke said. He swung a punch of his own, but at the injured arm.

"FUCKING CHRIST!" Harold yelled as he balled up in the seat. Everyone else laughed.

"Hey, where are we going?" Theo asked.

The laughter stopped, as no one had thought that far ahead.

"My moms working tonight," Blake said. "We just have to be quiet for Abby."

"She home alone?" Paul asked.

"No..." Blake trailed. "Eden is watching her."

"I thought your mom fired her after you two broke up?" said Luke as he reclined his chair and hit Harold's balled up body.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you all," Harold muttered.

"Guys..." Theo trailed as the van came to a stop.

Outside, in the middle of the street, were two bodies, in police uniform. And on the side of the road was a woman's body.

"What happened?" Paul asked no one.

Theo opened his door and got out. Luke immediately followed, as did Paul. Blake opened his door and hurried out as well, while Harold climbed to the edge of the seat and sat folded over.

"I'm gonna blow," he whimpered.

Theo crouched next to the cop's corpses. Each had a single bullet hole through the head.

"The girls the same way," Paul said. "Shot right through the skull."

"Murderer on the loose?" Blake said questionably.

In the background the boys could hear Harold throwing up and moaning in pain.

"Guys, I think he's really hurt," Theo whispered.

"I know," Luke said at the same volume. "But we can't take him to the hospital with all of the alcohol in his system."

"What can we do then?" Blake asked.

"Guys," Harold moaned. "Someones coming." The four boys turned to see a figure walking... No, limping down the middle of the road.

"Shit, we gotta get out of here," Paul said. "Five teenage boys with god knows how much alcohol in their system at the scene of the crime where 3 people were shot and killed. 2 cops! And one of them is mauled! We're fucked!"

"He's right," said Blake. "We've got to go, now!"

The boys started on a dead sprint back to the van, but before they got back, Harold fell out and face first onto the pavement.

"Jesus Christ!" Paul yelled as Herald hit. He and Blake ran to him and picked him up, noticing the bloody face to add to his arm. By the time they pushed him in, they could make out all of the limping man's features.

He was covered in blood, and his shirt was ripped to shreds, and bullet holes riddled his chest.

"What the hells wrong with him?" Blake asked, muttering beneath his breath. The man reached out and nearly grabbed Paul, but he pulled his arm back at the last second.

"What the hells your problem?" Paul asked. No answer. The man just took another step closer and reached out to grab again.

This time, Paul swat the man's arm away and pushed him slightly back. The man toppled over.

"Theo, start the van," Blake ordered. He pushed Harold farther inside.

"Fuckin' freak," Paul muttered as he climbed in next. Blake followed and slammed the van door shut as the man stood again, now reaching at and clawing at the window.

"Drive," Blake ordered.


	14. Old Bill

Coal looked at the picture of his wife that Ethan was looking at. It was of her at a retiring police officer's party several months before the outbreak in Raccoon. She was wearing a black dress holding a glass of champagne. Coal wondered for a moment where he was at the time of this picture, couldn't remember and walked away to the kitchen. Ethan followed him.

"If you don't mind my asking," Ethan began. "how did she die?"

Coal pulled two bottles of Miller Highlife from the fridge and Ethan graciously accepted one.

"You heard about Raccoon City, right?"

"Of course. The whole world heard about that."

"Well...I was a cop there before I moved here. That's how she died." It required no further explanation than that abd Ethan nodded somberly.

"Tough break kid." he said before gulping down some beer. Coal agreed and did the same. The silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity before Ethan asked "Where are your guns, fuzz boy?" Coal chuckled and led him into the bedroom closet where he unlocked a weapons cabinet revealing a row of pistols; Glock 17 9mm, Heckler & Koch 9mm sub-compact, Sig/Sauer P226, Colt Commander 1911, and a Beretta 9mm, a Mosberg Model 88 Shotgun, a scope mounted M4 Carbine, an MP5 with reflex scope, and a sawed off tactical Remington shotgun. Ethan whistled with approvement . "Very nice, Mister Coal."

"Thank you Mister Rayne." Coal replied.

"So..." Ethan said with barely controlled excitement. "Which one is mine?"

"Well" Coal began. "the M4 and the Heckler & Koch is mine. Apart from that go nuts." Which you clearly are. Coal thought.

Ethan was all too happy to oblige, grabbing the MP5 from the rack, several empty clips, and boxes of 9mm hollow points. Coal grabbed the M4 and the H&K 9mm, ammo for mboth and started for the kitchen where he and Ethan sat and began loading up for war. They passed the time by loading up magazines with ammunition and Ethan told Coal exactly what slang British words, such as bollocks, or gobbins, meant.

"So," Coal started, sliding in another 5.56mm round into the M4's magazine. "if I were to say ' all of these rounds lying on the table were gobbins' the that would mean that they are lose items?"

"Precisely." Ethan said, checking over his various weapons and clips.

"Huh." Coal said inquisitively. Loading his last magazine for his weapons and standing. He holstered the H&K at the small of his back and cliped over a dozen magazines on his belt and in his shoulder holster. Ethan stood and pulled on his suit jacket. Strapped to his leg was a SWAT style holster which housed the magazines for the MP5. Coal entered his bedroom and exited with his briefcase and a duffelbag. Inside of which were the Remington tactical, boxes of 12 gauge shells, boxes of 9mm rounds, a first aide kit, extra clips for both the MP5 and the M4.

"Whats the case for?" Ethan asked, picking up his MP5 and inspecting it.

"I need something out of it." Coal answered, opening it and removing the picture of Katrina and himself, putting it in his inside jacket pocket.

"So, whats say we go and find a way to get out of town?" Coal said, slinging the bag onto his back and picking up his M4.

"My thoughts exactly 'Old Bill'." Ethan said. Both men positioned themselves on opposite sides of the door. As Coal reached for the nob he stopped and asked "Who's Old Bill?"

"You are." Ethan said matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"Old Bill is slang for Cop." Ethan said, getting annoyed with the American.

"Oh, clever." Coal said sarcassticly before opening the door.


	15. The OJ Debate Continues

The two men quietly climbed into the car, shutting the doors with the slightest "click-clack". Ethan paused before starting the car. He reached into the breast pocket of his dress shirt, a prescription bottle in his hand now, he popped the cap and swallowed two pills.

"What are those for?" Coal asked looking in the mirror on his side, two of the undead were stumbling around nearly 50 feet away. A police officer, male. And a strong looking black man.

"It's my blood pressure medicine. I get angry really easy, It takes a toll on my thump-thump." He said putting the bottle away.

"Blood pressure medicine is common for people your age. What are you 45?47?." Coal asked smiling. Ethan squinted and looked at Coal for a long time.

"Listen smart ass I am 37. And I am damn good looking for my age, now don't insult my intelligence by pretending you think I am older than I am." Ethan said with a dry tone. Coal smiled and let out an evil chuckle.

"So what is it like being a mercenary?" Coal asked as Ethan began to drive.

"It is interesting, work whatever shift I want, only listen to my contractor who is always 5000 miles away. It has its perks. enough about me, so your a cop,single. I have herd you can get women left and right, even the lonely depressed widows of murder victims." Ethan explained smiling. "Excuse me?" Coal asked the only words he could muster.

"You know the " I lost my husband but I am still young and hot and in the need of an emotional release" kind of sex?" Ethan asked with a smirk.

"You're kidding right?" Coal asked a tad bit disgusted.

"What?....Oh please like you never covered an accident or homicide and gone back a month later for a statement?!" Ethan asked with a shit eating grin.

"I mean those kind of women...mmm I can see it, they have been alone all throughout the process of finding the killer, your the one who caught him/her. lets say the trial takes a year, OK now you have a woman who has been hanging on the vine for a long time and she is ripe. I mean the spouse died and she is left all aloooooooooohhhh shit! Damn it I did it again....fucking sorry mate ugg" Ethan said reminding Coal of his wife. Ethan while driving drew his gun and put it at his temple

"Pickow" he said before chuckling and holstering the weapon.

Ethan drove down only the quiet streets, or at least the ones that had only the living running around screaming.

"Hey,hey,hey,hey, stop the car, Its a looting cocksucker." Coal shouted and pointed.

"What?We don't have time." Ethan shouted.

"Give me one minute" Coal pleaded.

"Bollocks" Ethan grumbled putting the car in park.

"30,29,28" Ethan said looking at his watch.

"HEY!" Coal shouted getting out of the car and running to the broken electronics store window In which a skinny frail black man was throwing cd's into a garbage bag.

"Fuck off man this is my score." He said continuing to loot.

"Asshole your pushing my buttons" Joshua said putting his badge in the mans face.

"Screw you po-po my daddy is a lawyer." The black man said sighing

"Mine was a brick layer, so what?" Coal said firing back instantly.

"Nobody likes a looter, get indoors and tend to your fucking family instead of trying to make a profit." Coal said backing up. The black man seeming to listen to him.

"Do not let me see you out here again!" Coal warned going back to the door and shutting it. Ethan was still counting.

"5,4,3." he stopped when the door had closed.

"Wait, were you going to leave me if I didn't come back?" Coal asked concerned.

"If that worries you then next time don't test my clock to go play superman." Ethan said driving up to the end of the street and taking a left down another block. behind them gunshots rang out.

"Uzi." Ethan muttered quietly in passing conversation.

"Gangbanger army to the rescue." Joshua said dry and unenthusiastically. In front of them nearly half a block away was an average white male in white boxers looking away from them in the middle of the street., blood trickling down his back.

"20 points" Ethan said smiling,roaring the engine. "Do you want to break the damn car? Do you?" Coal asked deaf ears, Ethan hit the gas. As the car sped towards the intended target the white undead man spun around unusually fast.

"Well that's... new" Coal said with a cocked head like a curious puppy. As the speedometer read 30 miles an hour the zombie charged at them with a dead sprint before the vehicle mowed the white man down it took a leap onto the hood of the car.

"Oh shit!" Coal screamed almost girl like. The car swerved violently left and right, the speed increasing.

"shit, shit ,shit, shit." Ethan said calmly over and over steering with one hand and drawing his Beretta with the other. The white male punched violently at the windshield making spiderweb cracks apear on the drivers side.

"He is acting like my loft mate when I told him I though OJ didn't do it." Ethan shouted firing two rounds into the attackers chest. Coal did the same.

"Wait,what am i doing?" Ethan thought out loud before slamming onto the breaks. The undead rolled off. Ethan drove forward, running the man over, then put the car in reverse running him over again. Ethan parked the car and unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.

"You cheeky mother fucking, Ring raiding, cocksucker!" Ethan said kicking the still moving undead male in the head multiple times.

"You aren't supposed to be able to do that. Don't do it again." Ethan said picking the zombies head up by the back of the hair and shooting it in the head. The creature was finally still. Ethan climbed back into the car and looking at Coal. "Doing the right thing has a time limit, but getting out and kicking something because your angry is cool?"

"Shut up." Ethan shot back, rage still in his system. " And OJ did do it by the way" Coal said as the car kept going down the dark road.


	16. Woe

"Be quiet guys," Blake ordered as he unlocked the front door to his house. It was 11:30, much past Abby's bedtime.

"Eden," Blake whispered as he took his first step in. No answer. He walked in and looked around a bit. She was nowhere to be found. "Alright, go sit him on the couch or something. I'll get some ice."

Harold's clean arm was draped around Paul who dragged him into the family room and plopped him down, making sure he didn't fall over. "What's on the tube?" he asked no one.

In the kitchen, Blake searched through the freezer for all the ice he could find. He wrapped it all in a big blue piece of cloth and tied it off.

"Here," he said, throwing it to Paul, who immediately placed it on Harold's wound.

"Do you have a bucket or something?" Theo asked as he put the keys to the van on the coffee table in front of them. "He's bound to puke again soon."

"Yeah," Blake said. "Just let me go check up on Abby first."

Blake stood outside of Abby's room, and could hear noise. It was faint, but he could make out some kind of groan. He opened the door, cringing at the awful creak it made.

"Alright," Blake said as Eden walked into the house. "I'll be back around 11 tonight. Just make sure she eats and is in bed by 9."

"Blake, I've done this before," Eden giggled "She never gives me any problems. Abby and I are friends... Aren't we?" she said with a smile as the little girl appeared at the door. Abby shook her head playfully.

"What happened to your arm?" Abby asked, pointing to a large bandage on Eden's right forearm.

Eden just smiled. "I tripped on my way over," she explained. "Its nothing."

"Did it hurt?" Abby asked.

"A little, but its nothing serious."

"Abby, why don't you go tell mommy goodbye again before she leaves," Blake said. The little girl said okay and ran off.

"So what happened?" Blake asked.

"Some derelict bit me," Eden groaned, all the cheer once in her voice gone. "I'll tell you, this neighborhood just keeps going downhill."

Blake stood, horrified, watching as Eden tore pieces of flesh off his little sister, biting and chewing them, drenched in blood. Her blond hair was no longer anything but a crimson. She hunched over Abby's bed; Abby no longer recognizable.

Without hesitation, Blake slammed the door and turned from the room, falling to his knees and vomiting all over the carpet. Then, a scratch came from the other side of the door, followed by a pound.

"Blake," Luke yelled. "Harold threw up again."

Eden's arm came bursting through the door. Behind it, her growls echoed throughout the halls of the house. Blake stood and stumbled away and into the room with the other guys. Harold lay face first in his own vomit, not moving.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Paul asked. Blake could feel has pale he was. His fingers twitched and his head shook. He looked back into the hall and saw that there was another hole in Abby's bedroom door. Through one, Eden's face was visible.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her mouth covered in Abby's blood. She moaned as she pounded on the door, about to break another hole.

"Is that Eden?" Theo asked.

Blake tried to take a step forward, but fell to one knee, trying to hold back from vomiting again.

"Shit, now what's happening?" Luke yelled as he rushed to Blake's side. He helped him up, but he immediately fell back down and vomited again.

"We've got to go," he mumbled. "We've got to get out of here now."

"What? Why?"

"NOW!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet and running for the front door. He tripped and started crawling, looking back at Abby's bedroom door. Four holes now.

"Fine, let's go," Paul said, picking Harold up and draping his arm around his shoulder again. But Harold pushed away.

"Harold, come on, we're leaving."

Harold stood now, on his own, staring directly at Paul, and in that moment, stumbled forward and tackled Paul to the ground.

"What the fuck?!" Paul yelled as he hit the ground. Harold bent his head back and then slammed it into Paul's neck, taking a bite into him.

"GET HIM OFF OF ME!" Paul screamed. Theo ran up and kicked Harold square in the stomach, sending him up and off.

Paul coughed and blood spewed everywhere. In the background, a door fell, and Eden came running down the hall, stopped and jumped into the room where everyone else was. She pounced on Paul and took a big bite out of him. Theo fell backwards onto his ass and scrambled away. Paul's cries for help ended as Eden took a second bite.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" Theo mumbled as he got to his feet. He ran passed Paul and Eden, with a now joining Harold and towards Blake, and Luke who had already gotten out.

Blake slammed the door behind them and they all stumbled out into the middle of the street.

"Start the van!" Luke yelled. Theo searched his pockets.

"I left the keys in there," he cried.


	17. Bad Bad Leroy Brown

The Interstate leading out of Atlanta was backed up with traffic for miles. Thousands of people were in gridlock, bumper to bumper, it was a symphony of horns and curses. If they all knew the reason why traffic was backed up then maybe they wouldn't be in such a rush; the military and Umbrella had erected a Containment wall twenty feet high which encompassed the entire city.

"Who says that the Federal Government can't get anything done quickly?" Coal said. He and Ethan had anticipated that this would happen so they decided to go to a different road instead of the Interstate and try to get let out. Perhaps Ethan could find a contact.

The car traveled across an overpass from which one could see the Interstate and the wall a half mile away. "Idiots, that's who." Ethan said lighting a cigarette and offering one to Coal who denied.

"But I'll take some of that whiskey." Coal said gesturing to the bottle between Ethan's legs.

He chuckled. "My man!"

Ethan and Coal passed the bottle back and forth as they exchanged stories. Ethan told Coal about a squeeze of his when he was on assignment in Havana. "Worst place on Earth, greatest twat I've ever tasted!"

Coal told Ethan about his Training Officer when he first joined the force before he met Katrina. "Her name was Tina Rolla and she sure could Rolla that tongue!" The men laughed despite the situation they were in. Perhaps it was because Coal had already lived through a similar situation before and Ethan was what some may call "unstable", maybe it was because the area they were in wasn't heavily populated and therefore was not heavily infested yet, or it could've been a way for them both to cope.

"What the fuck?" Ethan said as they rounded a corner. Coal looked through the cracked windshield and saw gridlock traffic.

"Sonofabitchinfuck!" Ethan screamed pounding on the steering wheel.

"Dude! Calm the fuck down!" Coal exclaimed. "You're gonna give yourself a god damned aneurysm ."

"We gotta walk now." Ethan grumbled. He and Coal exited the car and started walking inbetween the traffic. Coal and Ethan had their assault weapons slung on their shoulders and Coal carried the duffel bag as well. He knew that they would not be coming back to the car.

Coal casually glanced into some vehicles as they walked towards a titanium fenced portion some hundred feet away next to the containment wall. In one Honda a man was furiously honking the horn while his wife was yelling at him and a baby in the backseat was crying. In a Mercedes a man was staring a 357 magnum in his hands, blood which most likely didn't belong to him covered his shirt and face, the look of "what did I do?" in his eyes, a wedding band on his finger but no wife in the car. It was when they were fifty or so feet away from the fence that a muffled gunshot echoed behind them. Coal didn't break stride and Ethan, who was ahead of him, didn't seem to notice. Coal looked in the window of Jeep Cherokee. A bloody hand print on the inside of the window. A face rushed up to meet him and bounced off of the glass. Coal jumped back and pulled his Glock, aiming but holding his fire. The person must have been bitten, driven here, gotten stuck in traffic, died from their wounds and reanimated in the car. And since a zombie lacked the brainpower to open a door or undo a seatbelt it would be forced to spend the rest of it's existence trapped in a steel coffin.

Ethan stopped and turned. "Lets get a move on then." he said. Coal shot the zombie through the window, the bullet spraying the inside of the car with blood, bone, and brain matter.

"Sergeant Coal. Heartless killer." Ethan said jokingly.

"Watch out for grabbers." Coal said walking towards him.

"Grabbers?" Ethan asked as a cold, dead hand reached from the open car window he was standing next to and grabbed his wrist.

"Mother fucker!" Ethan screeched as he pulled a pistol but Coal fired through the rear window and through the back of it's head.

"Those are grabbers. The ones who died in their cars. We have to move fast. The infection has reached the walls. When they figure that out its gonna be panic. Not to mention what the military and Umbrella will do." Coal and Ethan approached the gate. "What will they do?" Ethan asked. Coal stared at him. The mouse in Ethan's head found the cheese. "Oh, Oh! Damnit all!" Ethan and Coal approached the titanium fence. It was fifteen feet tall and topped with razor wire. They had to force their way through a thick, angry crowd of Atlantians to get to the front. They instinctively stopped at a red line and saw an angry looking solider pointing an MP5 at the crowd. "Don't come any closer!!!" he screamed at the new comers.

"Hey mother fucker!" Ethan started. "Don't you...hey! Doaks!" Ethan called to a man he recognized on the other side. The man was heavily muscled, black, and looked as if he was not happy to see Ethan. He was wearing a suit similar to Ethan's, Coal could tell as he approached the fence and waved the solider away.

"What the fuck do you want, Rayne?" Doaks asked.

"I want you to let me outa here, Doaks. You owe me."

"Mother fucker I don't owe you shit! In fact, you owe me a new michelin mother fucker!"

"Oh come..." Ethan remembered that Coal was there and informed him that the last time he saw Doaks he slashed one of his tires. He didn't explain why.

"Come on Doaks I saved your life in Somalia from those fucking skinnys, now do the right thing and let me out! Oh yeah and my mate too."

"I can't Ethan. My hands are tied you know that. The city has been sealed. No one in and no one out. Don't feel bad, you're not the only one that was left behind." Doaks chuckled and started to walk away.

"Oh fuck you mother fucker!" Ethan screamed after him. Doaks returned to the fence.

"Mother fucker? Mother fucker who are you calling mother fucker mother fucker?"

"You! You uppity jig!" Doaks flinched as if he was slapped.

"Oh that's it you fucking sh-" the breeze picked up at that point carrying on it the smell of death. Moans started to be heard in the distance except for one. It came from behind Ethan. He turned and saw a woman standing there. The people were packed in so tight that she died from a wound and was left standing there and no one ever knew. She lunged at Ethan who pushed her back into the crowd behind her. The force of the push was large, so between that and people starting to panic and flee, several people fell to the ground with her. She landed ontop of an unlucky man. She bent her head back and threw it forward biting into his face. He screamed for help but no one did.

Ethan turned back to the fence and Doaks was gone. Coal put a round in the back of the zombies head, it died ontop of the now dieing man with her teeth still embedded in his throat. It took of his cheek, jaw, and lower lip. Coal put him out of his misery. He turned to Ethan who was furiously banging on the fence.

"Doaks you fucking bastard! Let me out! We're not infected! We're not infected!"

"Ethan we have to go!" Coal said.

"Fucker!" Ethan scrammed at the fence. This was not good. The infection was here at the gate. Zombies were close. People were panicking, running towards the high wall, trying to climb and failing, a woman was thrown off her feet and trampled to death, and a couple gang members from rival gangs started exchanging fire with each other, causing other people with guns to fire aimlessly into the crowd.

"God dammit just like raccoon, Ethan! We have to go now!" Coal didn't want to be there for what happened next. "Ethan!"

He turned and got in Coal's face. "What!!!" Before Coal could push him away they heard the screeching of a big rig's tires and the sound of one's large engine at high speeds. The two men watched as several hundred feet away the driver of the big rig, who suffered a serious bite on the neck ten minutes earlier, drove the trailer loaded semi around the corner at fifty miles per hour. He shot a zombie wearing a Rolex watch in the head. It went down. When he bent down to get the watch it sat back up and bit him. Bullet must have glanced off the skull and dazed it. Coal had seen it before. The driver died as the rounded the corner and the truck continued on, rear ending Coal and Ethan's car, slamming it forward into others. Vehicles were sucked under the tires, thrown airborne, and sent flipping over others. A Honda's gas tank ignited causing it to explode as it went under the front wheels of the semi. The cab of the truck exploded as well, jack knifing the truck before it flipped on it's side. The truck continued sliding for another hundred feet swathing a path of destruction before it came to a stop. People screamed, fires burned, and a crushed pickup truck further back exploded.

"You're right." Ethan said. "We should go." The two men ran towards the burning husk of the semi and cut down a side street. The smell was stronger now and the moans were louder. There had to be loads of them heading right for the wall.

"I am ordering you to evacuate the area immediately or we will open fire!" A solider said through a loud speaker back ontop of the wall. The men found a pickup truck a few hundred yards away in a parking garage on the third level. It was unlocked and the keys were in it. Ethan got in the truck but Coal stopped. From where they were he could see the area where they were just at; the destruction, the wall with the soldiers, and all the people. Hundreds of them.

"Listen to them." Coal thought. "They'll do it just run! Run fast you can still make it, its not too late."

The zombies rounded the corner. There were indeed loads of them. A woman towards the rear of the pack screamed, a solider gave the order to fire on the civilians, and Coal entered the truck.

"Lets go." he said and Ethan wasted no time.


	18. Ye Get No Solace In God's House

Ethan and Coal pulled up towards the small church Light rain sprinkled down onto them. Thunder and lighting silently rumbled and flashed as they parked. They climbed out quickly slamming the doors. The pair went up the steep stone steps. All the gear they could carry was with them. "It'll have big oak doors. A smart place to hold up for a few hours." Ethan said as they knocked on the doors.

"?.Were not reanimated flesh eaters" Ethan said sarcastically. Coal just looked at him with a frown.

"Not a good time for a joke?" Ethan asked as the door opened. In front of them stood a nun. An elderly woman, eyes bloodshot from crying and praying.

"Do you need shelter in this time of turmoil my sons?" She asked.

"Pssh yeah!" Ethan said to her in a not so friendly tone walking past her.

"May we enter sister?" Coal asked smiling.

"Yes, my son, but I am afraid your friend has already done so." She said with a smile, shutting and bolting the large secure doors behind them.

The inside of the church was spacious, four rows of three benches were before the son of god. Besides that you felt like you could breathe. Three other survivors were in the large room with the nun. A black man wearing a yellow dress shirt and a red tie. A middle aged man who appeared as if he was in a biker gang, tattoos riddled his arms, shaved head and a leather vest. A snub nose revolver was sticking out from his waistline. And a very young woman with black hair. she had on a red hoodie and black pants. she was obviously scared, but then again they all were. Ethan wanted off his feet so he headed towards one of the many benches. He took a seat only to have the nun follow him and take the seat next to him. Ethan was already annoyed the woman, but she was a nun so he was going to play nice.

"He will come to save us" The nun said pointing to Christ.

"Perhaps." Ethan said after biting his lip for a few seconds.

"You don't believe in him?" She asked smiling.

"Is that your business sister?" Ethan said quickly and sharply.

"God is my word, I seek to spread his word." She said smiling. Ethan let out a long and drawn out sigh while turning his head to face her.

"It's word." Ethan said looking her in the eyes.

"Pardon?" She asked.

"Let's be frank your going to call our theoretical creator a him, when it really wouldn't have the need for a gender. If there is only one true god then you cannot say he or her, she or he. IT,it,it,it." He said before calming and avoiding a rant.

"Do you know what your sin is son?" The nun asked him. Ethan laughed out loud ending it with "Hahahahaha...here we go. ok well let me think, If I had to pick one I would say pride. But hell I could pick plenty of others, greed, lust. Hell I am actually a fan of all seven." Ethan said to the nun. "I didn't mean to offend yo-" The nun started to say before Ethan interrupted her.

"What was Christ's sin? Hmmm? Stupidity?" Ethan nearly shouted. Coal in the distance and sighed and muttered

"Ethan...." The nun grabbed the nearest bible and handed it to him. "You may want to read it before you attack it." She nearly spat before walking away. Ethan light a cigarette and put the tip of his cigarette on the corner of the bible and it went up quite quickly, Ethan dropped the flaming book before saying to himself

"Oh my. a miracle, my life is changed for ever, you were right all along creepy guy nailed to a bit of wood!". Joshua nearly sprinted to stomp out the fire and smack Ethan hard upside the head.

"Oww, what??! She was annoying me so I set the sodding book on fire!" Ethan shouted.

"Yeah?! Well your annoying me should I gather all you believe in and set that on fire?!" Coal shouted. Just then a splatter of blood landed on Ethan's hand. He and coal looked up to see nothing but rafters and darkness. Ethan shrugged and wiped the blood from his hand onto the shoulder of the nun, who spun around to see what Ethan needed, she had assumed he tapped her shoulder.

"I just wanted to say sorry for lighting your bible on fire....I just kinda wanted to make the part with the burning bush 3D because I was enjoying it so much" Ethan said sarcastically walking away towards a door to another room so that he may smoke with out getting preached at or smacked again. Ethan shook out a slim cigarette before reached for the door handle. He stuck the cigarette between his lips. Someone touched his shoulder, a female touch. Ethan glanced behind himself expecting to see The nun. Shaking the scowl from his face,Ethan smiled at the young black haired beauty.

" Could i bum a cigarette?" She asked smiling with white teeth. Ethan loved good teeth,

" Of course. What is your name, Birdy?" Ethan asked handing her a cigarette and opening the door to the Priest's office, which was empty, but warm.

"Zoey." The woman said smiling, putting the cigarette in her mouth and passing the door's threshold. Ethan was a step behind her, shutting the door behind him. He locked it.

" I knew i girl named Zoey where i grew up" Ethan said lighting his and her cigarette. The Two sat next to each other on the edge of an oak desk.

"Where was that?" She asked taking a small puff. Ethan looked confused as to why she didn't inhale. Was she faking?

" London. England. My way of speaking not making that clear?" Ethan asked with a smile.

" I figured. This whole thing is crazy, these....zombies are, like from science fiction." Zoey said taking another puff. Ethan cocked his head lightly, she was faking smoking the cigarette. Any other time Ethan would be upset by the wasted cigarette, But he had a feeling he knew why she was doing so and carried on with it.

" It's ok. Your lucky you got me and Coal here. Coal is a police officer. And I am a soldier." Ethan said taking a drag. Zoey glared up at him with soft, doughy eyes. He saw the beginings of the urge to take over in her eyes. This was Ethan's favorite part, he got to get what he wanted and complement himself.

" Really?! Where did you serve?" Zoey asked taking another puff.

" Well, when i turned 18 I Joined the Queen's Army. Honorably discharged when i was 21, screwed out of my millitary pension. So I Joined the French foreign legion After that." Ethan said with a light smile.

" Whoa, i read about the french foreign legion in my history class. Never give up, never surrender. That kind of stuff?" She asked.

" How old are you?" Ethan asked.

" 20" She said smiling.

" Jackpot." Ethan thought. Young, prime, and she gets buttery over soldiers. Ethan smiled knowing he hadn't been an actual soldier for almost 13 years. But it didn't matter now.

" What wars were you in?" Zoey asked putting her cigarette out, not even half way through with it.

"Oh, you'll pay for that." Ethan thought.

" Some wars you heard of, alot you haven't heard of." Ethan said putting out his cigarette. Zoey got in his personal space. She touched his arm.

" I feel alot safer knowing your here. I Just have been scared for the last 4 hours i can't even think clearly." She said with a look in her eyes.

" Anyway i could help make you feel better?" Ethan asked stroking the side of her face, placing his thumb on her lips. Brushing them lightly. Zoey opened her mouth and sucked on his thumb. Ethan stood and knocked everything of the stained, oak study desk. Zoey climbed on, then Ethan was on her.

Ten minutes later Ethan was walking out of the office tucking the end of his dress shirt back into his slacks, and Zoey walked out behind him, ruffling her messed up hair. Ethan smiled as Zoey gave him a numb and dazed look.

"Ethan." Coal whispered from a dark corner, his m4 carbine was aimed at the rafters. Ethan walked over. "what is it old bill?" Ethan asked. Coal looked at him for a brief moment, breaking his serious demeanor. Joshua leaned in and smelled Ethan.

" Are you wearing perfume?" Coal asked.

" Of course not!" Ethan said defensively.

Coal squinted and looked at Ethan with a confused look.

" Don't take this as offense, but why do you smell like sex?" Coal asked.

" Are you sodding kidding me? You are the worlds biggest poof, what did you want to talk to me about?" Ethan asked getting snapped back to reality then handed Ethan the rifle and pointed where to aim,

"What in the queens sexy legs is that?" Ethan asked looking at what seemed to be a skinned humanoid with no eyes and a large head. The creature sat like spider man with all of its limbs touching the rafters top. It appeared to smile a brief moment, revealing it's knife sized teeth. It silently leapt to another rafter with no noise, Ethan kept it in his sights and followed it.

"I counted two of them up there. They are waiting to pounce on a straggler." Coal whispered as Ethan went to the equipment bag and grabbed another clip for his mp5 and stuffed it in the front of his pants. He cocked his mp5 and flicked the safety off.

"You want to shoot first?" Ethan asked.

"You don't get it." Coal said lowering his weapon.

"The last time i saw one of these was in Raccoon city, there was only one, and i had an entire Squad of S.T.A.R.S. members with me. My teams rookie Dorian called it a licker. And my entire squad was killed by it." Coal whispered with fear in his voice.


	19. Crossing Paths

"What the fuck is happening?!" Theo yelled as the three boys staggered down the middle of the road. Blake walked a few feet behind the others, his face frozen, his skin pale. In front of him, he could hear a conversation, but couldn't make anything out.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Blake asked Eden. "You look really pale."

"I lost some blood," she responded. "I'm a little dizzy, but I'll be fine once I sit down and raid your fridge," she ended with a chuckle.

"You sure?"

"Does it matter?" she asked. "You aren't going to cancel your show. So despite what I say, it makes no difference. At least this way, you won't feel bad about it." Blake stayed silent, knowing she was correct.

"BLAKE!" Theo yelled. Blake snapped his head up.

"Pay attention dude," Luke said.

"Sorry," Blake said, still distracted.

"So what do we do?" Theo asked.

"We need to get inside," Luke suggested. "Somewhere safer than out in the very open."

"What about in there?" Blake asked, pointing to a nearby church.

"A church?" Luke said quizzically. "God ain't gonna save us here."

"Yeah, but its likely to have other people who will know what the hell is going on," Theo said. "I say we go for it."

They ran up to the doors and tried to open them, but they didn't budge. Theo started pounding.

"Hello," he shouted. "We need help. Please?"

"Guys..." Luke whispered. "Lets be a bit quieter."

"Why?" Theo asked. He turned and saw. At least 15 people stumbling around the street, all looking directly at the boys.

"LET US IN!" Theo yelled, pounding on the doors.

"Don't you touch that fucking door!" a voice yelled from the other side. "I swear to your god, I'll send you to him."

Let us in!" Theo yelled again. "They're out there!"

"They're getting closer!" Blake yelled.

Luke rammed against the door, in vain hopes of knocking it over.

"Go away, there are bigger problems in here," the same voice said from the other side.

"Ethan!" a different voice yelled. "Pay attention to the rafters."

"This bitch'll open the door!"

"ETHAN!"

"Fuck!"

The things had reached the steps to the church's front doors.

"Fuck this!" Luke yelled as he hopped over the railing. "Fuck god!" he screamed as he took off like a cheetah.

"LUKE!" Blake yelled, fixing to go after him, when all of a sudden the church doors swung open.

The boys ran in, and the doors slammed shut again.

"Fucking bitch! You could have endangered us all there!" the one who was assumed to be Ethan yelled, pulling his gun from the roof to the nun.

"Pay attention," the other one yelled.

"I think we're safe," Theo whispered.

Blake was looking at the roof, where the unknown man's gun was aimed.

"I don't think we're any safer..." he said, pointing at what he was eying. "I think we just got in deeper..."


	20. Ghosts In The Darkness

Raccoon City, Colorado, six months ago

The white STARS SUV sped down the street with sirens blaring, behind it the howling of a pack of "dogs" chasing after them, if they could even be called dogs anymore. They were changed by the virus just like everyone else who became infected.

Coal and his STARS team was forced to pull back when the dogs came, but that's not when it became obvious that they were screwed. That point in time came much earlier.

"Jesus Christ!" Dominick, Charlie 5, screamed from his seat behind the driver. One of the dogs had latched onto his forearm and gave him a real nasty bite, ripped clean into the bone. Margret, Charlie 3, was sitting next to him and was attempting to stop the bleeding. Scott, Charlie 6, the rookie, was sitting next to them panicking.

"Aw shit! Shit! We are so fucked guys, we're fucked!" and he was right. The city had fallen apart. They were quarantined by the military and Umbrella, the bastards who caused this nightmare. Alpha team was MIA, Bravo was gone, Delta was MIA, presumably dead, and Echo was ripped to shreds right before his eyes. they were there, also, when the dogs came.

Charlie 2, Issiah was sitting in the third row of seats, staring out the back window at their pursuers. "I think we lost them." he said over top of Dom's screaming and the rookies rantings.

"Keep us at a steady pace, Rod." Coal said to Charlie 4 who was in the driver's seat.

"Sir," Margret said to Coal. "I can't stop the bleeding, he needs proper medical attention, now."

The rookie laughed. "Fuck that. Even if the city wasn't tearing itself apart its not like he can be saved, he's infected!"

"Fuck you, rookie!" Dominic spat over Margret. The conversation just degenerated from there and Coal had to step in.

"Can it, rookie!" he roared and silence returned to the vehicle. "we don't know for sure if that's how the virus is spreading and we are taking him to the hospital."

"Hospital?" the rookie squeaked. "but that place is gonna be crawling with the zombies."

"Please don't call them that, it's ridiculous. They're infected. And Dominic needs help. Help that we can't give him here. And Katrina is at the hospital. I'm going to get her. I'm done giving you all orders. If any of you don't want to continue with me to the hospital then tell me now so we can part ways." After a few second pause Issiah spoke for the team; "We're with you, sir." That was when all hell broke lose.

A creature with elongated limbs, razor sharp talons, Grey skin, large teeth, and no eyes lept at the SUV from an alley, slamming into the driver's side with enough force to nearly flip the vehicle. It punched through the rear driver's side window and clear through Dominick's skull. Margret and the rookie were sprayed with blood and brain matter.

"God!" Margret exclaimed attempting to backpeddle away from Dominic but unable to get far enough away. The monster punched through the driver's window, it's talons cutting Rod's arm off at the elbow. Rod screamed and let go of the wheel, the suv was traveling at 50mph and started to swerve towards a row of parked cars. Coal grabbed the wheel, knocking Rod's severed arm off of the wheel which it was still holding onto, and swerved away just in time. The creature grabbed ahold of the door and ripped it clean off it's hinges, throwing it awya into the street. it then grabbed ahold of the screaming Rod and threw him from the vehicle, he slammed into the front of a parked bus as they passed it. "Mother fucker!" Coal screamed as he let go of the wheel and it started to come in through the driver's side after him. Coal brought his M4 up to bear, slamming the barrel deep into it's chest as it lunged for him and fired. The muzzle flashes destroyed everyone's night vision in the SUV and the creature shuddered under the spray of 5.56mm rounds. Margret brought her tactical shotgun up and fired. The slug caught the beats in it's chest, throwing it from the vehicle. it grabbed ahold of the steering wheel as it left, jerking it into a line of parked cars. Metal twisted, glass shattered, and time slowed as the SUV went airborne. It landed on it's side and Coal was knocked unconscious.

Coal came to.

The SUV was upside down in the middle of the street. Margret and the rookie were pulling him from the overturned vehicle. Coal stood with help from Margret and then found his own balance. He checked himself over. Other than some cuts and bumps he was no worse for wear. he checked his gear and found it all to be in working order. Issiah was being helped to his feet by the rookie.

"You okay?" Coal asked him.

Issiah let out a painful grunt. "I..I think my leg is busted, but I'll be okay."

"Dominic?" Coal asked. Margret shook her head solemnly.

"Where's it's body." Coal asked, loading a fresh magazine into his M4.

"There is no body, sir." Margret responded.

"What?" Coal exclaimed.

"What the hell was thing, Josh." Issiah asked between gritted teeth.

"You see that things tongue? Fucking licker man, licking all over the place." The rookie whimpered.

What remained of Charlie team could hear the faint whispers of moans in the distance. The they heard it. The unmistakable sounds of dogs running, their nails clicking on the pavement. Coal turned and from the darkness less than a hundred feet away came five infected dogs. Their flesh torn apart, exposing bare muscle and tendons below. They were all from the RPD's K9 unit. They were still wearing the bullet proof vests.

"RUN!!!" Coal screamed, firing his M4 from his hip. He turned and ran as the pack closed the gap between them. The rookie was helping Issiah limp along until they went up on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. Issiah tripped over the curb and went face down on the pavement. Scott, the rookie, instead of helping his fellow officer, just left him to die.

"Issiah, NO!!!" Coal screamed but it was too late. Issiah made it halfway to his feet before one of the German Shepard's lept onto his back, biting into his shoulder and pushing him down. Another latched onto his calf, ripping flesh and muscle from the bone. The other three dogs went straight for the pack wanting their taste of the kill. Coal took aim at the group of feral dogs but turned his attention to the running rookie. He saw the "licker" wrap it's tongue around the man's throat and pull him up to wear it was ontop of a nearby building. Coal fired bursts at the monster, trying to save the rookie but failing as he was pulled up to the rooftop never to be seen again. Margret pulled the pin on a fragmentation grenade she had taken from an undead infantry man who was left in the city like them when the quarantine had fallen. She threw the grenade, it landing in the midst of the feasting dogs. A second later it exploded, throwing chunks of body parts skyward.

The two final members of STARS Charlie team stood there for a moment taking in it all in. that is when the licker attacked. They were both able to doge in time and before they could even take aim it was gone again.

An ambush predator.

Coal and Margret went back to back in the center of the street, slowly turning in a circle. Coal thought he saw it on a rooftop but when he adjusted his eyes to it it was gone.

A gas station was fifty feet away on his right. Someone must have died while they were pumping gas because the smell of the petrol as thick and he could see a large pool of gas mixed with blood around a white, blood smeared Grand Prix. Coal had an idea.

The licker attacked, leaping at them from an alley again. Margret was facing it and therefore took the brunt of the fatal attack. It slashed her across the chest, ripping through her body armor and the flesh and bone below. The force of the attack sent her spinning through the air, knocking Coal to the pavement below. She landed on the grand Prix's windshield and fell on the other side of the car. She wasn't moving. Coal made it to his feet to see the licker, ten feet away, preparing for it's attack. In one hand Coal held his M4, in the other he had a flashbang grenade, the pin already pulled.

"Come on!" Coal screamed as the licker lunged at him. Coal dodged left, the licker passing through the spot he had just inhabited. The licker continued through the air and landed ontop of the Grand Prix. Coal threw the grenade. It landed next to the passenger's side in the pool of gas. Coal was able to make it to the cover of a nearby dumpster, leaping inside of it before the grenade exploded, the resulting sparks causing a second explosion which destroyed the entire area. A few minutes later Coal emerged from the dumpster. Covered in trash but alive. The damage was nothing short of total. Hundreds of gallons of gasoline went up in a fireball of an explosion which could be seen by a military jet traveling at 350mph 30,000 feet above. Everything was on fire. Nothing was left of the grand Prix, the licker, the gas station, or Margret....

Coal reloaded his weapons and looked at his watch; it was 4am. he had five downed team mates and ten blocks yet to go before he reached the hospital....

Present day

A long tongue shot down and wrapped around the young woman's throat yanking her out of the group she was standing in and taking her up to the darkness of the rafters. It all took less than two seconds. Coal and Ethan opened fire, knowing that the woman was as good as dead. Their bullets ripped into the rafters, showering the area below with splinters. The two men in the woman's group pulled their weapons and joined into the fight. This focused everyone's attention on only one of the lickers. there was two of them. The second one landed behind the biker and swatted at him, sending the man spiraling and screaming through one of the high pane glass windows to the zombie infested streets. The other man turned and the licker took his head off with one clean swing. Coal and Ethan peppered the licker with a combined 27 rounds but it lept into the rafters again before it even seemed to notice. Silence returned to the church and Coal and Ethan reloaded their weapons. Ethan pulled his Beretta, holding it in his left and the MP5 in his right.

"What the fuck-" one of the boys started to say before being cut off by Coal.

"Quiet!" Coal hissed. Coal signaled for Ethan to go to the far side of the church and to keep his eyes open while Coal went down the center aisle. Ethan signaled in disagreement and signaled that they should stick together instead of separating. Coal shook his head violently and signaled Ethan that they need to be apart so they're harder to pick off. Ethan agreed but still flipped Coal off before moving to the far side of the church. Coal signaled the two teens and the nun to stay behind at the door. As Coal walked away the dull thumps of zombies outside banging on the door could barely be heard over their moans. Coal started down the center aisle, M4 aimed up, flashlight on, but it barley cut through the darkness. it was as if the shadows became darker just for them. Ethan came to the window where the biker got smacked through. He peered out it and saw countless zombies stumbling in the street. A large cluster was huddled on the sidewalk feasting on something. Probably that biker Ethan thought. Returning his attention to the rafters. Blood started to drip down falling on Coal's shoulder. Before he could process what it was one of the boys from behind him screamed "Look out!" Coal glanced upward as he fell to his right. He saw a corpse wearing a red sweatshirt falling. The corpse connected with his shoulder, throwing him to the church floor. The corpse was so tattered that Coal wasn't certain what exactly was holding it together. "Coal!" Ethan exclaimed as he fired into the air. Coal instinctively rolled away, rolling over the woman's corpse, and slamming into the row of pews on the left. The licker landed where he was a moment before crushing wooden floor boards beneath it's feet. Coal fired from his position on the ground, spraying the monster with over a dozen rounds, as Ethan hit it with more and more. Coal made it to his feet and continue shooting the licker, not giving it any time to recover. The licker spasmed and fell to the floor as Coal and Ethan clicked on empty. Coal dropped his M4 allowing the sling to catch and it to hang at his side. He pulled his Glock 9mm and one 17 round clip later the licker breathed it's last breath. Coal and Ethan wasted no time reloading or standing back to back knowing that there was at least one more.

"Holy shit!" a boy named Theo exclaimed.

"Praise the Lord our God!" the nun said crossing herself.

"Shut the fuck up!" Ethan screamed. The licker landed infront of Ethan and Coal and lept at them. Time seemed to slow as both Ethan and Coal pushed off of each other and fired into the licker as it passed between them. It had such momentum that it continued through the air and slammed into the nun, sending them both crashing through the double doors, knocking them off it's hinges, and sending zombies spiraling though the air as they tumbled down the steps, stopping at the bottom where the licker stood up and zombies swarmed the nun.

"Run!" Coal and Ethan screamed as one at the two teens ran straight towards them as dozens of the undead stumbled through the now open doorway. Coal and Ethan tried to thin the ranks but there was just too many.

"Pull back!" Coal screamed to see Ethan ten feet away saying "Way ahead of ya, yank!"

They went into a back room and Ethan turned laying down covering fire for Coal who ran past him and exited the double doors to the back parking lot of the church, unsure of what was awaiting them outside. It was wide and open with no cars in it and several zombies. Coal turned as Ethan sprang down the steps and opened fire on the zombies in the parking lot. Coal saw the silhouette of a licker and swept the area inside the doorway with fire. His rifle clicked on empty and he, Ethan and the two boys sprinted across the parking lot.

"Where are we going!?" one of them asked as Coal pulled his Glock and dropped a zombie without breaking stride.

"I don't know, just run!"

"Do what your told, boy or I'll beat you like your father should have done!" Ethan screamed as the group went down an alley. They came face to face with a wall of zombies fifty feet thick. Coal turned and saw at least a hundred more stumbling after them and the licker sprinting after them through the crowd, knocking zombies to and fro. Ethan opened fire into the wall as Coal told the teens to go up the fire escape. They did and it became apparent that the fire escape was old, rusty, and probably wouldn't hold. Coal sent several 3-round bursts at the licker but to no affect. He started up the fire escape with Ethan in tow. The licker lept onto the first level as the men made it to the second. The first level broke away and fell to the street as it sprang for the second level as they made it to the third. This went on for what seemed like an eternity until they made it to the tenth and final level. The two boys were already on the rooftop and Coal had made it as the licker pulled itself up onto the tenth level where Ethan was at. The bolts broke free from the wall and the fire escape began to fall ten stories to the pavement below. Ethan lept from the fire escape and wouldn't have made it had Coal not grabbed his hand as he fell. The fire escape fell with the licker screaming the whole way down. It smashed into the pavement and it was crushed under the old metal and steel. Coal, with the help of the kid named Blake, pulled Ethan to the rooftop. The four survivors sat there for a moment, breathing heavily and digesting all the had just happened and had happened. Ethan was the first to speak; "Thanks Coal."


	21. Babysitting

"Oh man, oh man , oh man. What do we do?" Theo asked pacing back and forth.

"Try to calm down." Blake said patting his friends shoulder.

"Fuck Calm Blake! I'm stuck on a Roof with Two old guys with guns and down there are dead people and mutants with long lickers!" Theo screamed.

"If it helps any..." Coal said flashing his badge. "Atlanta police. Sergeant Joshua Coal." Coal said, for a brief moment Theo seemed to calm. Blake looked at Ethan who had just lit a cigarette. "Where is his badge?" Blake asked. Ethan smirked at the boy with his cigarette dangling in between his lips, smoke pouring out his nostrils as he mimed jerking himself off.

"That's my badge kid. Call me Ethan. Ethan Rayne. I'm in contracting. Now look someplace else I'm sick of you glaring at me like i took your toy away." Ethan muttered taking a drag.

"Asshole" Blake muttered turning away. Ethan stopped dead in his tracks and flicked his cigarette off the roof and spun around.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Ethan grumbled walking up to the young man.

"Nothing" Blake said nervously.

"My officer friend and I just risked our lives to save you. So again he repeats himself when he should just hit the cunt. What did you say?!" Ethan almost shouted. "I said you are an asshole." Blake said not so calmly. Ethan chuckled a moment before he backhanded Blake so hard he fell on his ass with a busted lip.

"Ethan!" Coal snapped. "Ungrateful little shit, Fuckin' yanky. Nice pre-ripped jeans, that started in England by the way and you ripped them yourselves. It was meant to upset the status quo at the time, now it's a joke. graah! children I hate them. Now I have to play kindergarten watch dog. Rule one: Don't touch me. Rule two: do not talk to me unless it is important. Rule three: Do not touch me, I swear if any of you primitive screw-AHHHHHHHH" Ethan growled drawing his gun and pointing it at them and fired it. Coal drew his glock.

"Drop the weapon!" He shouted loudly before turning to see what Ethan had shot. The licker presumed dead was bloody and near broken, It had scaled the buildings wall and just made it onto the roof top before Ethan nailed it in the middle of the forehead with a bullet. Silently the creature fell back down the side of the building.

"Drop my gun coal? That's cute you giving me an order." Ethan said holstering his weapon and looking back at Theo and Blake.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. please don't touch me. Don't ask for a gun, I assure you we will not give either of you one. " Ethan explained with a calmer tone. Ethan extended a hand to help up Blake. After the boy was upright. Theo raised his hand.

"What?" Ethan asked. "Has anyone ever mentioned you look like Kevin spacey? I mean really....you look just like him." He asked. Ethan's right hand brushed against the whalter ppk pistol on his hip.

"Oooohh ho ho ho, kids." Ethan said slightly disgruntled before walking away towards the roof's door letting out a quiet

"EEERAH!!" out of frustration. Ethan kicked open the door to reveal a dark stairwell. He listened and didn't hear moaning. "Let's go boy scouts" Ethan sighed before making a noise like a trumpet alarm at a summer camp. Coal took point.

The group decided to take a two hour break, they had held up in one of the many apartments in the apartment building. Coal brewed coffee, Theo and Blake had spent most of the time microwaving popcorn and passing it around.

"Eat up, kiddies. One thing I learned in Havana is that carbs are rare....Fuckin' Havana." Ethan said quietly before sitting against the apartments door and falling asleep, after all he hadn't slept in almost four days. as he slumbered quietly he dreamed.

Ethan stood in a black void. He was sweaty his forehead covered in a bandanna. He was wearing a tan jumpsuit with a tactical equipment vest. In his right hand was a m-16 with a grenade launcher attachment. His hands and face covered in gunpowder residue, it appeared he had been in a long term scale of combat. Ever so slowly the black around Ethan formed into a small room. A hut actually, the walls made of bamboo. It had come back to him, Ethan knew where he was now. It was 1994, He was in the middle of one of Cuba's jungles. In one of the huts, of one of the many illegal umbrella field labs. For the last three weeks Cuban military had been getting closer to the field labs location. Ethan had been fighting hard, his guess was that he had killed at least one hundred men in the last three days. At least that was what his ego was telling him. He stood before a sickly looking black woman who was laying on a cot with an I.V. in her arm. "Tabby, baby it's going to be ok. The Humvee is coming to take you out of here soon." Saul said with tears in his eyes, The lanky black man was on his knees gripping her hand tightly, his assault rifle on the ground next to him. "What's wrong with her Saul?" Ethan asked quietly behind his partner. "Cobra bite." Was the only thing Saul could whimper past his lips.

"Damn it...I bloody told her to stay out of the tall grass around the camp." Ethan grumbled to himself. Machine guns were going off a football field away.

"Saul, we need to go now!" Ethan said cocking his gun.

"I am not leaving her." Saul said sternly.

"Hey, look at me." Ethan said loudly. Saul ignored him.

"She is already put in a coma, her ankle is so swollen the skin is torn. Anti venom is a thousand miles away and it's already too late for it to be effective. she is gone, let your wife go,Saul. When they find her they will take her to a hospital and she will die in her sleep. As you and I will be racked and water boarded for eight months until Castro comes down, and personally puts bullets in our heads." Ethan ranted to his partner.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Ethan nearly screamed kicking open the door and firing at an oncoming infantry unit. Saul cried as he stood and held his gun.

" I always liked the end of butch cassidy and the sundance kid." Ethan shouted as the two ran outside firing forward at the half a dozen troops invading the camp.

" Tank!" Saul screamed tackling Ethan to the jungle floor, the tank fired a shell that went right over them, destroying the building they had just come out of.

"NOO!" Saul screamed. Ethan kept firing ignoring his friends pain before eventually grabbing Saul by the collar and dragging him into a sprint as they dashed into the lush green jungle. Saul sobbed as they ran. " You owe me! Ethan Rayne you owe me. I SAVED YOU. YOU...AN OVERPRICED KILLER. AND MY WIFE DIED FOR IT."Saul screamed as they ran. Ethan not wanting to argue while they made an escape didn't answer.

Ethan went back into the black void of his dream. Floating in the dark. " YOU OWE ME ETHAN! YOU OWE ME FOR CUBA! DON'T YOU DARE CLOSE THAT DOOR COWAR-" Saul's voice cried. The words stung Ethan, ringing in his ears. Suddenly from the darkness Saul lept out at Ethan, his places were nearly eaten to the bone on several parts of his body, his face half ripped off. His eye sockets filled with maggots.

"COWARD!" Saul cried strangling him wildly.

"Ethan." Coal said shaking the man on the shoulder to wake him. Ethan jumped only to find Coal extending him a cup.

"You have been asleep for almost two hours, we should keep moving. Your coffee got cold, but you should drink it anyhow." coal said. Ethan simply chugged the contents of the cup and stood. "We have about three fourths of the ammo we had when we started. We will be OK for another day or two." Coal said opening the door and listening, no moans. Quickly He slung the blue duffel bag over his shoulder.

"You take point." Coal said. Ethan raised his mp5 and started walking.

"You two stand in between us." Coal ordered the boys. They did so quietly. Coal was last to start walking. After a half an hour of searching Ethan had led them to the back of the first floor, Figuring the exit was near. Ethan listened and herd no moaning. He rounded the nearest corner, his flashlight brightly lighting the path before him for a split second revealing the backs of at least twenty zombies. Ethan gasped and cupped his flashlight with his hand. Theo almost shouted, Coal covered his mouth. panicking Theo ripped off Coals hand and shouted " I can't breathe!". Ethan sighed and uncupped his flashlight to see the first undead sprint at him wildly. Ethan shot him in the head. The other Undead slowly turned and shuffled towards them. "Run,Run, way go,go,go!" Coal shouted. The boys ran as Ethan and Coal fired wildly while backing away, Ethan stopped and grabbed a door wedge and as he walked backwards nearing a a doorway and shutting the door as he passed it and put the door wedge between the door and the floor. The undead pounded on the wooden frame, it wouldn't last. The group of men ran wildly down the other section of hallway until they came up to what was assumed the front door. It was locked, Coal and Ethan's combined weight couldn't break It. Coal cursed as he went up to the nearest apartment door and kicked it open.

"Get in, we hide again for now." Coal sighed as they all went into The similar apartment. After shutting the door Coal and Ethan started throwing all needless heavy objects up against the door. Blake went to the kitchen with Theo and sat at the kitchen table as the men did the work. Blake took a small kitchen knife out from a drawer, it gave him what little security a simple kitchen knife could.

"It'll hold, but i doubt they will find us if we keep quiet. worst case were on the first floor we can get out a window. Ethan take a few more winks, you look like shit." Coal said as he and Ethan went into the kitchen. Ethan smiled, he wanted to sleep but knew he couldn't. He was being hunted in his dreams. Saul wanted revenge, and if Ethan went to sleep he would surely claim it. "Saul...i-i am s" Ethan began to say to himself but stopped knowing it would do no good. He could use Saul right about now. Saul had the brains to Ethan's brawn. Ethan sat on the floor and placed his head against a cupboard, he shut his eyes and struggled to pretend to sleep.


	22. Old People: The Perfect Zombie

Ethan was asleep. Coal sat in a wooden chair staring down the barricaded door. Theo was sprawled out across the kitchen table while Blake sat on the counter next to the sink. He had gotten permission from Coal to leave the water running with the stopper in the drain, and the sink was nearly completely full. Blake took a nearby cup and filled it to the brim with water. After taking in half of it, he handed the cup to Theo who, without sitting up, poured the water all over his face.

"Quite a night, huh?" he said with a slight chuckle. Blake looked at him astonished.

"What's funny about it?" he asked.

"Well, today was supposed to be the best day of our lives," Theo responded. "Our first show. And now... This."

"I still don't see the humor," Blake said coldly.

"Its ironic," Theo blurted. "We were so stoked for this day, and... Here it is... We're down two friends and who the hell knows where Derrick is! Or if he's even still alive... Or one of those things..."

"Zombies," Coal said, walking into the kitchen. "This is the same thing as Raccoon City," he continued. "Biological meltdown that got too out-of-hand, and now... Well, our chances aren't looking good."

"Raccoon City..." Blake mumbled quietly.

Coal was prepared to continue talking, but Blake's phone went off, vibrating, luckily for them.

It was Derrick Luke.

"Luke!" Blake near yelled into the phone.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked.

"Where the hell are you?!"

Coal put his index finger to his lips, telling Blake to be quieter.

"I'm in some house on Oak Street," he said back. "The door was open and I ran in. There were three other people here... One dead and the other eating her... Fucking movie shit," he said, trying to make it into a joke.

"What about the third?" Blake asked. He didn't get an answer. "LUKE!"

"Yeah, I heard you," he finally said. "It was an old lady. Still using her cane and everything. Came stumbling up to me while I watched this guy eat who I assumed was his wife."

"Did she bite him?" Coal asked. Blake relayed the question on to Luke.

"Yeah," he answered. Blake didn't react. Theo dropped his head, and Coal put his hand to his face.

"But she didn't break the skin," Luke continued. "She more gummed me than she did bite me. She didn't have any teeth, and I'm assuming she had put her dentures away for the night, so she kind of just sucked on my arm for a second before I pushed her away."

Coal chuckled. "Christ," he sighed.

"So you're alright?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Luke answered. "Bashed the bitches head in then stabbed the dude in the neck with a giant fucking kitchen knife. I've blocked off the doors. I'm actually doing fine. Should've come with me," he laughed. "So wher-" he cut off.

Blake checked his phone. Dead.

"Fuck," he said quietly.

"Let's get going then," Theo said, hopping off the table.

"Yeah," Blake agreed. "We've got to get to him." They both stared at Coal who looked to be thinking it over.

"Fuck that," Ethan quietly mumbled, still lying down, apparently unable to fall back asleep.

"Fuck you ya fuckin' prick," Blake yelled. Ethan jumped to his feet and walked over an inch away from Blake, both of them the same height, staring each other directly into the eyes.

"Repeat that ya little shit," he said.

"Fuck. You. You fucking. Prick." Blake said slowly and precisely.

Ethan brought his fist back to prepare for a punch, but Blake beat him to it, jabbing Ethan quickly in the nose, causing him to stumble back and break his punch.

"Now you've fucking done it," Ethan growled, moving his hand up to his now bleeding nose.

"Ethan!" Coal snapped, trying to hold back a laugh. "Stop dicking around and clean yourself up."

"I'll stop dicking around alright," Ethan said, grabbing his pistol and aiming it at Blake. Coal was immediately ready and had his pointing at Ethan.

"Ethan," Coal said again, more sternly. "Stop dicking around and clean yourself up." Ethan snarled a bit and dropped his gun to his side.

"You deserved that one anyway," Coal said, finally releasing a slight chuckle.


	23. Coal Daydreams And Luke Ruins Everything

Raccoon, Colorado, six months ago

A fat raindrop fell from the clouds above and landed on the top of Coal's head as he slowly and methodically gaucho walked down the alley four blocks from the hospital. It had been raining steady for some time now, and it had also been some time since Coal had seen another zombie, not since the "licker" incident when his entire team was slaughtered. Even though he was soaked to the bone he could still feel his friend's blood on his skin.

Coal stopped infront of a puddle and came to a kneel, pausing to get his bearings and take in his surroundings, and perhaps more importantly, to listen. He couldn't hear anything above his own heartbeat or the constant pidder patter of the falling rain. Coal looked at his watch while still keeping his M4 trained ahead of him and his ears listening for the shuffling of feet or a moan. It was 4:37am. He had just shy of two hours before sunrise. Coal knew that the darkness gave him minimal cover from the zombies, he also knew that he didn't want to be out in the open when the sun rose. If he only knew how real those fears were.

Then he heard something.

Coal snapped to, peering down the sight of his assault rifle searching for a target. But that noise wasn't a moan. It was a radio. Could it be another survivor? Coal thought. He hadn't seen another survivor since he and his team left the area where they and Echo team were ambushed by those dogs. Coal listened intently for the noise again just to be sure that he wasn't cracking up. Silence was all he heard, then the noise came again, it was just around the corner at the far end of the alley. It was someone talking on the other end of the radio and no one was answering them. Coal started down the alley at a quicker pace than before. He rounded the corner with his M4 up to bear, and he saw a police car wrapped around a telephone pole, the officer that was driving was obviously dead from the way his body was halfway through the windshield missing his arm from the elbow down. The passenger side door was ajar and the other dead officer was lying a few feet from it being eaten by a zombie. the sound of the radio was coming from the cop which was currently being eaten.

Great. Coal thought. The zombie had yet to notice him and Coal wasn't going to wait for him to. But he didn't want to shoot it. He needed all the ammo he had and he didn't want to attract the attention of others that may be in the area. He was, after all, very close to the hospital which, in all likely hood, was a hot spot for the walking dead. Coal had a better, quieter, idea. He slung his rifle and took his collapsible baton from his belt. he approached the feasting zombie from behind, opened his baton and cracked it in the temple, knocking the zombie from his meal to the pavement. Coal would've finished it with the baton if the police batons were designed to kill but they were only designed to incapacitate, so he finished it with the heel of his boot, a sick, wet crack coming from it's skull.

Coal turned his attention to the fallen officer. he was a battered mess much like the one which was halfway ejected from the car. The skin in some areas was cleanly taken all the way off, revealing white bone below. He was lying face down on the pavement but Coal could tell that he was missing most of his face. The radio squawked again: "Hello. Is anybody there? This is Captain Moore, Sierra 114, U.S. Army helicopter rescue pilot. Please respond."

Coal took the radio from the dead cop's belt and hit the transmitter button. "This is Sergeant Coal, RPD Stars Charlie team. Go ahead 114."

"Christ its good to hear another voice. I thought we were to late to save anyone."

"Not too late but late enough." Coal responded cynically. "Where were you guys earlier today, when other people were still alive, and also, isn't this area under quarantine? Can't you get into alot of trouble for doing this Captain? Over."

"Yes I can." the Captain replied. "But I couldn't sit back any longer when I knew that there were people in the city still alive, and not when I knew what is going to happen at dawn. I haven't been able to find anyone else until you answ-" Coal cut him off.

"Hold on a second, Captain. What's going to happen at dawn?"

The channel was silent for a moment before the Captain replied with this bombshell: "They're going to nuke the city Sergeant. To contain the infection."

"Jesus!" Coal exclaimed. "I've got less than two hours."

"Don't worry, sergeant. I'm coming to get you. What is your location."

"I'm going to the hospital. Pick me up on the helipad on the roof."

"Understood. I'll see you there. Good luck and stay alive."

Coal clipped the radio and his belt and was turning to leave when a cold, wet hand wrapped it's fingers around his ankle. It all happened so fast that Coal couldn't think, he could only act. He pulled his Glock and fired a hollowpoint through the temple of the reanimated cop's corpse. The gunshot echoed through the streets. As it rolled away Coal began to hear moans. When he started to run, they followed him, getting louder with each footstep.

Present day

Coal was on point, the two teens were in the middle, and Ethan was on drag. They were along a wall in an alley on Oak street. The boy they were trying to rescue didn't tell Blake what house he was in before the phone died. Coal could hear Ethan muttering to himself about how stupid this was: "...goin to save some fucking punk fagot kid whose daddy probably touched him when he..."

Ethan's right. Coal thought. This is stupid. Just let the boy die, it's not your problem.

No! It is your problem! Coal thought again, pushing the darker one's deeper. You've got to save him.

Coal poked his head around the corner and at the end of the block he saw ten zombies stumbling around. One tripped and fell, seconds later getting back to it's feet. Ugh! When they stood back up. That was the worst.

Coal turned back and looked to Ethan and signaled him the plan. Coal then turned away and bolted from the alley to a parked car a hundred feet away. He reached the car and took cover behind it. The zombies didn't see him. Coal motioned for Theo to come next. After a moments hesitation Theo ran to Coal, making it to the cover without incident. Blake went next. The city's power grid for this section of the city was still operational because the street lights were on and so were some house lights. When Blake passed under a street lamp a voice called out.

"Blake!" another teen screamed form the porch of a nearby house. Blake froze, Ethan scoffed, Theo gasped, Coal rubbed his eyes, and the zombies turned. "Luke, I presume." Coal said. Ethan sprinted from the alley just as all ten of the zombies started for them, at a dead sprint.

"Fucking figures!" Ethan said, pushing Blake forward, turning and firing as Coal joined him.

"Get to the house!" Coal screamed at the boys before sending rounds into the group of sprinting zombies. Thanks to the fact that both he and Ethan were skilled marksmen they were able to pick off the last one before they were close enough to do any damage. But that didn't change the fact that they just alerted their presence to a city full of zombies who were probably heading their way right now.

Coal and Ethan made it to the house. Inside were the bodies of the zombies Luke spoke of, Blake, Theo, and their friend Luke. Coal closed the door behind them, locked it and started to barricade it again while Ethan laid into Luke.

"Are you fucking stupid!!?" Ethan screamed.

"I..uh..I" Luke stammered.

"I..uh..I" Ethan imitated. "You don't scream in a city full of zombies you stupid, emo, queer!"

Coal turned to the group. "We have to leave, now."


	24. Suburban Thermopylae

"We can't leave." Ethan said coldly looking out the front window at the clump of the undead citizens of Atlanta that were charging the gates of home. A single zombie turned its head and caught a glimpse of Ethan in the window and began stumbling over to him. Ethan sighed as coal came back from the kitchen.

" The back door is littered with them too." Coal groaned. Ethan looked around, as if the answer to the problem was around the room somewhere. The zombie had reached the window and broke it wide open, ever so slowly it was wiggling over the frame, Ethan shot it in the head point blank

."OK, another problem." Ethan growled as the door's blockade had just wiggled a quarter of an inch. The door was unlatched and the only thing keeping it from opening was the weight of the objects behind it. Coal lept at the barricade adding his weight. Theo followed in his wake, and joined him. Ethan frowned as he pushed a walking cadaver back out the window where it came from. Ethan leaned out the window and fired at the crowd of undead charging the front door. Mostly head shots, only a few body shots. Ethan grumbled at his lackluster skill, he needed some sleep. Ethan fired an entire clip into the crowd, only to see more stumbling beasts making there way out of the woodwork in the area. He watched them leisurely stumble into the area as he detached the banana clip from his mp5 and replace it with a fresh one. Easily 5 more showed up for each one he had just put down.

"Fuck." Ethan shouted loudly as a running corpse leaped towards him. Diving through the window sending Ethan flying backwards. The zombie was on top of him snapping wildly as Ethan held it at bay pushing up on its throat. Blake kicked it in the head and it rolled off of Ethan and climbed to his feet and charged Blake.

"Shit!" Blake screamed running the other way, heading up the flight of stairs, the creature in toe. Ethan stood and noticed blood on his jacket.

"This is tailored!" Ethan said with malice in his voice and picking up his gun and holstering it. He made his way to the fire place and ripped the fire poker from the ashes and ran up the stairs, to see the creature clawing at a door.

"Hey!" The creature turned, Blake's kitchen knife embedded in its chest.

"This suit was fucking new!!!!!" Ethan hissed, The creature charged him. Brutally Ethan cracked it in the knee, sending it to the ground. It tried to sit up, but Ethan cracked it in the neck. It fell back to the ground.

"Do you have the money to pay to get it cleaned?" He asked cracking it in the skull.

"No you don't!" He screamed hitting it again.

"Because your-" He hit it again

" A fucking, little prissy, cock sucking, ring raiding- " He hit it again.

"Grandmother fucking zombie!" He hit it three more times getting the anger out of his system. "Hey, bloke, its dead." Ethan said to the door the zombie was clawing at. With an instant calm demeanor He discarded the fire poker. Ethan went back downstairs. The barricade was about to go down, another zombie just climbed over the windowsill and another was coming behind it

."Help!" Coal grunted pushing at the barricade, the zombie from the window staggering towards him. Ethan drew his Beretta and fired, the zombie went down. Ethan went to the window, kicking forward at the newest zombie to try and get in through . The door was now ripped off the hinges and the only thing keeping the now 30 plus zombies out of the home was Theo and Coal pushing against a bookcase.

"We need to fall back, everyone upstairs!" Coal shouted as if he was pushing against a stronger current. Theo , Luke, and Blake headed upstairs. Ethan followed them with the supply bag on his shoulder, If Coal was going to die in his heroics then Ethan would gladly keep the ammo in his honor. Coal was last up the stairs, when he reached the top, Ethan came out of another room and with an axe in hand.

"Found an axe." Ethan said tossing it to Coal who immediately went for the base of the steps and started hacking. Ethan covered him with fire from his mp5 until they were too high up for the creatures to even reach. When coal was finished he tossed the axe on the hallway floor.

"Who the hell keeps an axe upstairs? I mean I'm grateful, but it is creepy now that i think about it." Coal stated, wiping sweat off his face with a cloth.

"Lizzie Bordon? Ethan asked.

" Ted Bundie?" Blake added.

"Dahmer" Theo chimed in.

"Oprah?" Luke added.

"Oprah? What the fuck are you talking about? When I was in Haiti that was the only English fucking television program! One year all i had was Oprah. That woman is a saint and I won't have you bad mouth her again you little git." Ethan ranted. Luke frowned and started to say

"I am sorry for shouting and causing all of th-" Ethan smacked him upside the head.

"Oh, I forgot about that! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!!!!?" Ethan shouted. Blake looked at Coal to have him stop Ethan. Coal shook his head no.

"The kid has this coming, I'm agreeing with Ethan." He said quietly.

"I wasn't thinking." Luke said sadly.

" Yes, that's right you weren't thinking. Maybe if your long hair wasn't in the way of your fucking ears you could hear the zombies all over the place! Which aren't deaf by the way, and actually look in the direction of sound." Ethan ranted moving Luke's hair away from his ear, only to show a gauged earlobe.

"Do the little peach fuzz lipped 16 year old girls really think that's sexy? Do they look at that and get buttery in the nether regions over that? I personally think it is a ten on my fagottry scale. And your tight pants....just because your package is vacuformed into a bulge when you are wearing them doesn't mean it makes your cricket and crumpets actually bigger. Your essentially wearing a male push up bra. And we all know push up bras are the worlds most evil and treacherous false advertisement schemes." Ethan still ranted. Everyone nodded in agreement at the push up bra comment in silence. "

Theo, fill up the bathtub as far as you can." Coal ordered. " Do you want to take a bath?" Luke asked. " No, no he doesn't want to take a bath, are you high?! Who knows how long were going to be up here, we need as much water as we can get." Ethan shouted.

"Fill this up too." Coal said handing Theo an empty milk gallon he pulled from the supply bag Ethan had still on his shoulder. Ethan set it down.

"Raise your hand if your hungry." Coal said pulling out a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. Everyone raised a hand but Ethan, who was hungry but he just thought raising his hand was childish.

"When did we get that stuff?" Ethan asked.

"It's been in there the whole time Ethan. you just were too busy shooting to notice I guess." Coal said passing the bread around.


	25. The Look In Zachary Gifford's Eyes

"So how are we going to get out of here?" Blake asked as Coal tried to open the closest door to the top of the old staircase. It was locked, and felt as if there was a barricade on the other side. It was covered in what seemed like claw marks from people trying to get in.

"The houses in this part of town seem to be pretty close together," Coal said, leading the group to the other side of the hall and into another bedroom, which was open. "If need be, we could maybe, and this is a big maybe, try jumping from roof to roof, at least until we get far enough away from here since the majority of the zombies out there are now piling up where the stairs used to be."

"Sweet," Theo said in a monotone.

"Yes, sweet," Ethan mocked. "Its sweet to be trapped in a suburban house with 3 little emo pricks while hundreds of zombies try to claw our goddamn brains out."

"So what's your problem anyway?" Luke asked.

"He's British and looks like Kevin Spacey," Theo chimed in before Ethan had time to react. "I'd be pissed too."

Luke and Blake laughed slightly. Coal smiled but didn't make a noise. Theo's joke was met with a snarl from Ethan, but he seemed to drained to do any more.

Blake stood up from the group and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Coal asked.

"Bathroom," he replied, walking out of the door and into the closest one. He flushed it once. "We've still got water. Might as well take advantage of it."

He flipped the light switch on and closed the door behind him gently, but quickly noticed another door on the other side of the room. He walked over and opened it, revealing the second upstairs bedroom.

Blake walked in and flipped the lights on. Inside was the body of a boy he knew from school. His name was Zachary Gifford. They didn't really talk, but they knew each others name. He sat up against the far wall in a pool of blood; a bullet wound adorning the side of his head. In his left hand was a pistol.

"Bastard just couldn't take it..." Blake said as he walked towards the corpse. He knelt down and stared at it, making sure it was actually a corpse.

From the looks of it, Zachary Gifford would never rise again. Blake took the pistol from his hand and stuffed it into his pants. It had 5 shots in it.

"Rest easy," Blake whispered to the corpse, then stood up again and looked around the room. The barricade included a dresser, a mattress and an acoustic guitar. Blake quickly picked the instrument up and plucked each string. All in perfect tune.

He turned and walked over to the window. He stared into the streets below, not seeing a single zombie stumbling about. "Sticking to rooftops would be safer," he said to himself. He kept looking around the room for something else that could potentially be helpful. Some rope, water bottles, and some mild painkillers.

"Blake!" Luke yelled. "What's taking you?"

"Would you stop fucking yelling?!" Ethan nearly screamed. Blake laughed. He left the room, closing the door behind him and meeting the others back in the room.

"Where did you get the guitar?" Coal asked immediately.

"The bathroom connects to the other bedroom," Blake answered. "But there isn't really much in there. Some rope and water bottles, Tylenol... That's all."

Blake walked over to the room's bed and started playing an acoustic version of the last song they had played last night, Deicide.


	26. Before Sunrise Before Sunset

The sun started to rise and it came as a surprise to Coal when a nuclear explosion, wiping them, the zombies, and the city of Atlanta off of the globe did not occur. They must be trying a different approach due to the incident in Raccoon City.

Ethan told Coal to get some sleep and that he would keep watch. Actually, he told Coal "Get some fucking sleep, Coal. You look like shit ran you over and you reek of cheap whiskey. I'll keep a watch over these little tools." Coal, after making Ethan promise not to shoot, slap, or throw any of the teenagers from the upstairs, went and found a nice little corner, away from the zombies at the destroyed staircase, and holding his M4 tight, attempted to get at least a few minutes of sleep. Much to his dismay, sleep came easy, but rest did not.

Raccoon City Colorado, six months ago

Coal slowly crept up the staircase to the fourth floor of the hospital. He had already been to the first, second, and third floor, and found nothing, not even zombies. Just alot of blood, the occasional truly dead corpse, and empty shell casings. A rather large number of police officers were stationed here, including the STARS Delta team, before they knew what they were dealing with. From the looks of it, it must have been a slaughter. A chill ran down Coal's spine as he remembered the radio transmission from Delta team earlier in the day when the hospital was still taking care of the injured and dieing. Coal stopped and regained his bearings before he continued. His flashlight sent a beam at the 4th floor door ahead of him, casting a bloody hand print in the light. It was fresh, still dripping down the length of the door. Coal's heart skipped a beat as he thought that it may belong to Katrina. But it didn't, it was too large. Most likely belonged to a male. Coal slowly reached for the doorknob, twisted it, and slowly opened it, silently cursing and contorting his face when he heard glass bottles gently rolling away from it as it opened. When the door was fully opened Coal swept from right to left searching for a target. There was none, only blood and destruction. This floor was much worse than the other three he had been to. Blood was covering every wall, nearly a dozen bodies, ripped to pieces were lying here and there, medical machinery and equipment was on the ground near a torn open door and the elevator shaft. The elevator doors were torn open, long claw marks escaping from the center. "Licker." Coal thought. He also saw several different types of weaponry, ranging from tactical assault rifles to hunting rifles and bladed weapons. This must have been where the final stand was made by the people trapped inside with the infected. Coal began to pray that Katrina was alright, but that seemed less and less likely with each passing second. A florescent light was partially ripped from the ceiling. It dangled by it's cord several feet further down the hallway ahead of Coal. The hospital's generators must still be in working order because every three seconds the light would flicker, casting the surrounding area in a dull, almost blue light. Coal wished that it wouldn't because all that it showed was more gore, the result of this chaotic battle.

Coal stopped at two bodies, kneeling next to them. They were side by side, too tattered to be recognized but there tactical gear, clothing, and name tags were unmistakable; O'Riley and Petersburg aka Delta 1 and Delta 6. A single hole was in each of the men's foreheads. "Must have been put out of there misery when they were overran." Coal thought, standing and continuing down the hallway. He stepped over fourteen more bodies; all of them were obviously reanimated before they were put down again. Coal maneuvered around the dangling light, but his elbow clipped it, spinning it counter clockwise. The light flickered as it spun right in Coal's face. The sudden and unexpected flare causing Coal to wince and shut his eyes tight. When he opened them a split second later, with spots still in his vision, he saw a few shadows quickly fading away as the flickering light spun away; one was his, three others belonged to some medical equipment in the vicinity, and the last belonged to another person standing right behind him...

Present day

Coal awoke to Ethan kneeling next to him, shaking him. "Hey! Wake up Rip Van Winkle."

"What?" Coal asked, he grogginess lingering in his mind.

"You slept for eight hours, man." Ethan said while helping Coal to his feet. "And there's something that you don't wanna see, but you have to see." Coal followed Ethan out of the bedroom where Blake, Luke, and Theo were all on the room's bed watching nothing but static on the television, and into the hallway stopping at the edge of the broken staircase.

"Son of a bitch." Coal whispered in a flat tone, as if he expected this to happen.

Back in the bedroom Coal informed the boy's that the zombies were starting what was essentially a ramp of decaying bodies. One would fall, and lacking the necessary time and space to make it back to it's feet, the other zombies would stand ontop of it. This would them happen again and again until the pile of bodies was high enough for them to make it the the 2nd floor, where they currently were. The zombies were just over three feet from being able to pull themselves up.

"Well that's just fucking great!" Luke yelled.

"Shut the fuck up!" Theo snapped. "It's you're fault we're in this mess. Had to fucking scream, just like always."

"Fuck you, asshole!" Luke said to Theo.

"Fuck you!" Theo yelled back.

"Guy's knock it off!" Blake yelled, only to be over powered by Luke and Theo's screams at each other. Ethan was standing by a window, snickered and lit a cigarette as he saw that Coal was quickly losing his patience. Just as the two boys were in each others faces, getting ready to slug it out, Coal, much to everyone's, except Ethan's, surprise, picked up a wooden chair and threw it at the wall, breaking the drywall and rendering it to splinters. The teenagers stopped and looked at Coal as if he was their drunken father who had just been fired from his job. Coal stared them all down, not saying a word, his scowl saying it all for him. Shut the fuck up.

"Coal" Ethan said, gesturing for him to join him at the window. Coal did and looked out at the sun drenched streets with Ethan. On any other day in this part of town, Children would be playing, people would be cutting their lawns and washing their cars, perhaps an ice cream truck would drive down the street to serve delicious, frozen treats. But not today. Those lively children were now brain dead, flesh eating zombies and that ice cream truck was now on it's side, a blackened out husk from when it caught fire last night. There were loads of zombies outside, all pushing for a way into the house. Coal guessed their numbers to be well over three hundred.

"If we scored a head shot on each one," Ethan began. "we may be able to put them all down before our ammo runs out."

"And bring every zombie in the city to our front door, no thanks." Coal retorted.

"We could run." Luke said cautiously, not wanting Coal to get mad again.

"Yeah." Theo chimed in. "You said earlier that we might be able to leap from rooftop to rooftop."

Coal looked at his watch; it was 3:17pm. They still had nearly five hours of daylight left and they would need to wait at least another hour before there was enough darkness to cover their escape. Coal told them as much and none of them liked it.

"So what?" Blake said, still holding the acoustic guitar from earlier. "We're just supposed to sit here and wait to see if time moves faster than the zombies do?"

Everyone looked at Coal who looked at them all.

"Yes."


	27. Can Man Outrun The Mistakes Of Mankind?

"Well...the building next door is looking very sexy, seeing how all the zombies are here and there are none over there, it looks quite spacious actually. Two, maybe three bedroom's. Upstairs and downstairs bathroom most likely." Ethan said knocking the ash of his cigarette on the edge of the window seal he was sitting on. Coal had his M4 carbine aimed the the ready towards the staircase. The first zombie would be able to crawl over within 20 minutes now. They had been waiting almost two and a half hours. The sun was not near setting but they were running out of time and options. Ethan smiled as he flicked his cigarette out of the window. His hands in his pockets ad he walking back and fourth, pacing.

"OK, were leaving. " Ethan said looking around for anything useful, he went into the hallway and opened up the nearest closet.

"Found a ladder." Ethan said grabbing a small collapsible ladder, it could stretch to about ten feet at best. "Where do you keep finding shit?!" Coal said surprised at first instinct and snapped back into focus.

"We can use it as a bridge to get next door!" Coal said to the group. Without hesitation Ethan went to the bedroom moving to a window that was closest to the house next door. Ethan threw the ladder down and opened the window only to pick up the now outstretched ladder and fling it out of the window, the other end of the ladder perfectly shattering the window of the home next door. Ethan changed his voice doing the best impersonation of a young hopeful American teacher.

" OK toddlers, make sure your shoes are tied and your hats are snug on your heads, and go,go,go!" Ethan said clapping his hands in a beat. The teenagers headed onto the ladder, Theo. followed by Blake, and finally Luke.

"Yeah, go team! your champions! All of you, brave little champions!" Ethan pretended to wipe a tear away before throwing his mp5 over his shoulder.

"Stay strong! Mama is right behind her little ducklings!" Ethan said in his American impersonation. "Duckings deployed mama goose!" Ethan shouted at Coal who was in the hallway. The officer fired one shot before walking into the room, the supplies around his slammed the door shut behind him. "Did you just call me Mama goose?" Coal asked as Ethan climbed onto the ladder. "I'm sorry Moe, don't hit me!" Ethan said changing his voice to a quite descent impersonation of curly from the three stooges.

"Shudup!" Coal said angry pretending to be Moe. Ethan laughed a snide laugh and on all fours went across the ladder. Coal went right behind him.

They repeated the process of using the ladder to go from house to house three times, they were at the end of the block. The group made there way down to the first floor of the home and stood before the front was dark enough to run for it.

"Alright, we are going to be quick and quiet and hope none of them see us until we get the next street. Then we run until we find another safe place. Is everyone ready?" Coal asked the younger men. They all nodded. Ethan looked at Luke.

"You want to scream anything first? Like, hey guys there is a safe place over there. Or how about, Hey a zombie! Or guys are we fucking there yet?! Or do you have ADD and you can't even maintain a sentence. Hey guys did you know zombies are in to- SQUIRREL!!! Look guys! It's A SQUIRREL!" Ethan said in a loud and angry whisper. Coal rolled his eyes and opened the door to the outside. One by one everyone went outside striding quickly across the street. As Luke ran out of the front door he tripped. Bashing over the Tin garbage can next to the porch. Causing a loud clank on the cement sidewalk. "You are kidding me!!!" Ethan said picking Luke up by the back of the shirt. The crowd of three hundred down the block stared at them blankly for a moment. "You better have been on the track team, boy!" Ethan Shouted as the majority of the crowd went into a sprint.

"Run!" Ethan shouted pushing the boy hard. The two went into a sprint to catch up to Coal, Blake, and Theo, they ran with all there might. Behind them followed a surge of the undead, Leading the pack of the flesh eaters was a dirty blond girl wearing a dirty princess outfit. In her right hand was a rusty syringe, someones eyeball and retina was dangling from her mouth.

"Night princess!" Ethan shouted shooting his mp5 over his shoulder, knocking down princess and three others.

"Fuck,fuck,fuck,fuck!" Luke screamed stopping at a parked car trying to open its locked door. Ethan pushed him into a sprint again.

"No time!" He shouted. Coal turned running backwards firing several rounds into the crowd, 15 feet behind.

"Alley!!!" Blake screamed turning left into the darkened pathway between two buildings. The group followed him, hopping over a parked car blocking the alley. They ran as far as they could, a 6 ft wooden fence blocked them off.

"Climb, Climb!!!!" Coal ordered. Coal turned and began firing at the crowd that was bottle necked by the two buildings, and slowed as they climbed over the car. Ethan joined him nailing a head shot as often as he could, Theo lunged upward and climbed over the fence, pulling up Blake up as he fell backwards off the other side. Blake did the same with Luke. Ethan reloaded and beat Coal to the fence and hopped up to its top and fired reaching downward, pulling up Coal as he fell backwards. Coal fell down on the other side with Ethan, Coal looked at Ethan and they gave each other the same look that said

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!". The group kept running, the fence wouldn't hold the crowd at bay forever. They sprinted out of the other side of the alley out into another open, but empty street. Ethan didn't see the zombie running up on the left of him. With a crack a gun went off in the distance in front of them, the zombie went down two feet from Ethan.

"Hey." Coal pointed forward, towards the graveyard in front of them.

"Burton Cemetery" Blake said stepping forward.

"My grandmother is buried here." Blake said looking ahead of the group, in the middle of the cemetery was a elderly man dressed in a U.S. military uniform , circa 1955, an M1 Garand in his hands. He waved the group over. The Group ran at a Fast pace into the graveyard. Coal flashed his badge.

"Atlanta police." Coal said to the old man, who looked as tough as nails. "Sergeant Harry Callahan." The old man replied.

"Introductions later, shelter now!" Ethan interrupted.

"Follow me, I am the grounds keeper here. I have got a safe place up ahead." Sgt. Callahan said turning and aiming his rifle forward.

The old man let them into a mausoleum, shutting its heavy iron gates behind took his time locking them. Shaking the gate to make sure it was tightly secure. "It has a second floor, I have a cot there, along with supplies." The old man said calmly, not breaking his focused gaze. This man was a soldier through and through.

"How old are you, man? people in diapers shouldn't be fighting wars." Ethan added in the dark path of tomb they walked through.

"Old enough to shoot one of those things from a football field length, old enough to bash your teeth in too, you limey cocksucker." The Sgt grumbled in a deep, calm, gravel like voice.

" I like him." Luke whispered to Theo. Coal looked at the man.

"You fought in Korea?" Coal asked. Sgt. Callahan nodded.

"I have enough M.R. E's (meals ready to eat) to last 2 years down here. Help yourself, but the ammunition is mine, stay as long as you need." The Sgt said as they went down a stone flight of steps. The bunker like room was light by a few candles.

" I mean it, rest up. You all look like hell." The Sgt said calmly as he wiped the sweat from his lit a cigarette and went over to the cot in the corner and plopped down, it was his turn for sleep, Coal had his turn. It was time for him to have some nightmares.


	28. It's Better To Have Loved And Lost

"He is going to be so pissed," Theo snickered as he watched Luke slyly reach into the side pants pocket of the sleeping Ethan. He pulled out the carton of cigarettes and stole 3 of them.

"He's still got 2 left," Luke said as he slipped the pack back in. He handed one to both Blake and Theo then pulled out a lighter.

"Best cigarette ever," Blake sighed, letting loose all of the tension and fear from the chase, finally accepting the fact that they might actually be safe for once.

"So Luke," Theo started. "Tell us all about your adventures. How did you manage to survive?"

Luke chuckled. "Sheer fucking awesomeness!" he gloated. "By dumb fucking luck." Theo and Blake laughed. "I'm not joking! When the toothless bitch got me, I nearly shit myself! I knew what the fuck was going on! I've seen Dawn of the Dead! Game over dude..."

"And you managed to get away from all of them just running like you did?" Blake asked.

"Well, at that time, they weren't really into the whole running bullshit..." Theo added.

"Actually, Eden did chase me," Luke said staring at Blake who's face blanked. "Told you that bitch was trouble!" he shouted, trying to make a joke out of it. An awkward silence followed. "Yeah, it was a pretty easy run," he concluded.

"We had it anything but easy..." Theo said. "We got attacked by..."

Blake dropped from the conversation, unable to keep his focus on anything aside from Eden.

"Eden," Blake said over the phone. "I need a favor..."

"Let me guess," she replied. "Watch Abby for the night?"

"Please?" Blake whined playfully. "I can make it worth your time."

"I don't want your money," she said.

"I was talking about money," Blake said coolly. Eden groaned.

"Fine, money is fine."

Blake laughed.

"Blake!" Luke yelled. Blake jerked his head forward in response.

"You're smoking the filter," Theo said.

Blake spit the remains of the cigarette to the floor and stepped on it.

Theo and Luke laughed.

"Would you little brats shut the fuck up?!" Ethan yelled as he sat up and reached into his pocket. "Who the fuck took my cigarettes?!?!" he yelled even louder.

Luke grinned. "He's fun to piss off."

"He's even more fun to punch," Blake mumbled, provoking a laugh from the other two.

"I think I'm gonna get some sleep," Theo said as he finished laughing. The other two nodded their heads, thinking the same thing.


	29. Statistically Superior!

Sergeant Kim of the U.S. Army walked nervously into the command tent of the commanding officer, Lt. Colonel George Anders. He was currently meeting with the Umbrella board of directors of the Atlanta branch, at least those who managed to escape from Atlanta before the virus hit the surface, arguing over the best way to handle this situation. Kim didn't want to interrupt the Lt. Colonel's meeting, but he had to inform him of this information.

"Sir, we have a problem." Kim said nervously.

Anders spun in his chair, away from the table of scientists to look at the younger man. Anders was a man of middle age, with thinning grey hair, and tight lips. He was notorious for his no nonsense attitude and hair trigger temper.

"Really, Sergeant?" he asked in a concerned tone. "I just have a second outbreak of some terrible virus created by these assholes who had no idea what they were doing, the virus hit the surface of Atlanta with a population ten times that of Raccoon City, the virus turned all of those people into flesh eating zombies, and I'm arguing with a bunch of civilians who don't like any of my suggestions on how to best eliminate this threat. And you're telling me we have a problem? Oh no! Here I thought that everything was hunky dory. Tell me, Sergeant, what's the problem?"

The noncom swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke shakily. "Umm, sir, we have satellite reports indicating that two men are working together with a group of other survivors trying to make it out of the city."

"So?" the Lt. Colonel asked. "The population size of Atlanta is over 500,000 people. There are bound to be survivors who remain uninfected by the virus and are trying to make it out. They won't of course so why bother me with this information, as you call it, in the midst of this crisis?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, sir." Kim handed Anders a small disk which he took from him and inserted it into a computer console on the table. After pecking at the keys from a few seconds, a hologram appeared in the center of the table from the projector and started to slowly spin. It was the pictures of two men.

"The one on the left, sir is..." Kim began only to be cut off by Doctor Eliza Sawyer, A scientist of molecular biology.

"Joshua Coal." the British woman said. "One of the few survivors of the Raccoon City outbreak. Former RPD and STARS leader of Charlie Team. His wife died during the outbreak and he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where he was hired on with the Atlanta Metropolitan Police Department as a member of their Strike Team, a gang enforcement unit, led by a 14 year veteran of the force, Detective Victor Samuel Mackey. Mister Coal's first day on the team was to be this Monday. We've been keeping tabs on everyone who survived Raccoon and who know the truth."

"Yes, so have we." Anders said, studying Coal's picture. "I've read his file. But who is this second man? he sort of looks like Kevin Spacey."

"That, sir, is..." Kim began only to be interrupted again by another board director, Doctor Anthony Crane, leading scientist of Infectious Diseases of the Atlanta branch.

"Ethan Rayne. He is a contractor for us, a mercenary. He has been employed with us for six years, and during that time has been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Somalia, the jungles in South America, Columbia, Havana, Southeast Asia, and Ecuador. He is one of our best. He and his partner, Saul Riahn, were in the underground hive, awaiting further orders the day the virus escaped. The fact that both he and Joshua Coal are still alive is not much of a surprise to myself or any of my colleagues, I'm sure." the other nine board members all nodded in agreement.

"Why is that?" Anders asked, confused. "I'm lost as to why this is a problem. They will undoubtedly become infected or die some other way in the city, why does it matter?"

The ranking board member and scientist of physics, Doctor Thomas Morgyn, leaned forward in his chair.

"You said that you read Mister Coal's file, we told you about Mister Rayne. If you were paying even the least bit of attention to what we said and what their files state then you would not only understand, but know for a fact, just how efficient and resilient these two are. They are excellent survivalist, resourceful, and determined. Coal survived Raccoon despite the fact that he was in the thick of all of the combat, Ethan dodged the Cuban Army for weeks before he and his partner were extracted from the combat. If any two men can survive and escape the city, then it is those two. Coal was angry before but now, he will undoubtedly do everything that he can to bring us into the spotlight for what happened not only here but in Raccoon, as well. And Ethan, he is one spiteful bastard and we burned him so he wouldn't be able to escape the city. He will do even more to bring us all down hard."

"What are the chances that they will make it out of the city despite the quarantine?" The Lt. Colonel asked.

Doctor of Mathematics, Simon Berkley answered in a second. "They stand a 36.27% chance of survival, so long as they stick together and they don't run out of ammunition."

"Sir," sergeant Kim began. "I also have one of Umbrella's contractors who said that he saw Ethan and this Coal at the West gate at 2300 hours last night."

Doaks entered at that point, standing next to the Noncom.

"That is correct, sir. I did see them both."

"We need to stop them before they do make it out the city, Lt. Colonel." Doctor Morgyn said.

"Let my team and I take them, sirs." Doaks said enthusiastically. "We can track them down and eliminate them quickly."

"What are their chances of survival if we send him?" Anders asked Doctor Berkley.

"Their chances of survival drop drastically to 11.89%."

"Ok..." Anders said looking at Doaks. "Do it."


	30. Baddest Man In The Whole Damn Town

"This is a terrible idea." Ethan said as he and Coal checked their weapons, readying themselves for their trip out into the city. Twenty minutes ago they heard the sound of a helicopter passing overhead. They had heard it again and again since then. It was still in the area and Coal had proposed that he and Ethan go out to see, 1. What type of copter it was. 2. Who they were. 3. If it meant rescue.

"I mean, " Ethan continued as Coal holstered his Glock, satisfied with it, and took out his H&K 9mm to check that. "here we have food, water, some old guy, and it's safe."

"No where's safe!" Coal snapped. Blake, Theo, Luke, and Sergeant Callahan all looked at him in surprise. He was on edge, losing his cool, very un-Coal-like. "I'm surprised that I even have to remind you of that. We have to keep moving, find a way out of this God forsaken city, and stay alive. We can't do that sitting around in this tomb waiting for something to happen." Coal returned his H&K to it's holster at the small of his back and walked over to the teenagers while Ethan scoffed and walked out of the room to the barricaded exit followed by Sergeant Callahan.

"Blake." Coal said. "A word, please." Blake stood and walked away from his friends, following Coal to another room. Coal turned and faced the younger, shorter boy and whispered to him.

"It's entirely up to you, but I suggest that if Ethan and I are not back here in six hours, then leave this place and continue trying to escape Atlanta. Do not stay here. If you do then this tomb will become your tomb. Don't try to take the Sergeant with you, either, because I can assure you he will not leave. Understood?"

"But, Coal-" Blake began only to be cut off by Coal.

"Don't worry about us; we'll be fine, just go. Six hours. Understand?"

Blake turned his eyes to the floor. "Yes."

"Good." Coal said, handing Blake the weapons bag. He and Ethan had taken their essential ammunition from it and left the Mossberg tactical and shotgun shells in it. "Keep this close, kid." Coal turned and left the room followed by Blake. He turned back around and addressed him again before exiting.

"Don't blame yourself for your sister, Blake. There was nothing you could've done. And your brother, I didn't know him well but well enough to know that he was a good man and a good cop. He loved you all. Remember that." Coal left after that, Blake just stared in silence, unaware of the tears rolling down his face, as his friends asked him what was wrong.

"Boy, that was just a heartfelt goodbye, Coal." Ethan said. "I'm surprised you didn't ruffle the boy's hair and tell him how girls and boys are different from each other. Now, if you're finished, can we please go on this suicide run?"

"Yes we can." Coal said matter-of-factly. The Sergeant reached for the door handle, his .45 pointed at it with his free hand.

"Good luck, boys." the old man said gruffly. "Don't come back now if you get sick, or I'll shoot you dead. Understand."

"Yeah we got it ya old gaffer." Ethan said. Callahan opened the door and Coal was first out followed by Ethan, both sweeping the area with their tactical weapons. No zombies. Callahan closed the door behind them and they heard the clicking of locks being re-locked.

Ethan turned to Coal. "I did hear what you said to that punk, Brian or whatever. You ever think about taking that advice yourself?"

The helicopter could be heard several blocks away.

"Lets get moving." Coal said coolly, taking point.

Ethan and Coal moved down the street in a crouch, separated by five feet. They could hear the helicopter but couldn't see it. On the street were three overturned cars, a small fire in a small department store and a Cadillac which had crashed halfway through the front door of a DMV. Further down the block was a six story building which was the Atlanta Art Museum, an expansive spiral ramp was there for people to walk up all six levels to enjoy the art pieces. Coal had planned on going there soon, but not anymore.

The twosome stopped and came to a knee. They both listened intently as the sound of the helicopter's whirling blades came closer. "Whopwhopwhopwhopwhop." the blades said as the attack helicopter soared over a building a hundred feet ahead of them and came to a hover a hundred feet off the street. The helicopter turned it's right flank to them as it bathed the men in a spotlight, effectively killing their night vision. On the right door, Coal and Ethan were both able to make out the Umbrella logo. That, coupled with the fact that it was an attack helicopter and both of their pasts with Umbrella, it was not difficult for them to figure out what they were there for; to kill them. Coal and Ethan sprinted for cover on opposite sides of the street as the side door of the copter opened and a black clad mercenary stuck a SAW machine gun out the door and opened fire on them. The high caliber rounds dug up concrete geysers as the gunner attempted to chase down Coal, who dived into the cover of a concrete wall, the bullets taking a chunk out as the bullets struck the wall. Ethan slid to cover behind a Camry, which was turned on it's side. From where he was he could clearly see Coal huddled in his cover as the bullets continued smashing into the concrete wall. He couldn't hear Coal above the gunfire but he could read his lips. He was screaming for Ethan to cover him.

"The gunner is concentrating on Coal, not even paying attention to me." Ethan thought. "I can escape, while he takes care of Coal. No. I should help him. No I shouldn't. Coal's a big boy, he can take care of himself, or at least die trying. Wait, Coal's a good guy, and he's helped me survive this long. He's resourceful, a crack shot, and puts up with my shit. I should help him. But Saul did all of those things and that didn't affect my decision in regards to him. But that was different. No it wasn't. Yes it was!" Ethan screamed that last part aloud as he came from his cover and let lose a stream of bullets on full auto at the gunner. None of his rounds found their mark but it gained the gunner's attention, turning from Coal to Ethan.

"That was retarded." Ethan said as the gunner took aim at the exposed Ethan. But Coal didn't let Ethan down. He came from his cover, aimed down his scope, and fired a single round. The 5.56mm NATO round hit the gunner in his collar bone, exited out the other side and richotched around the inside of the copter. The pilot jerked the controls in panic, the helicopter swerving down the street away from their targets. The sudden movement of the copter, plus the fact that he was wounded, sent the gunner falling from the side door to the street below. The gunner's safety line went taunt and that should have saved him, but it was a seasoned harness, one that should have been replaced months ago, so it didn't save his life. The line snapped and the gunner fell one hundred feet, landing on the trunk of a parked car. Glass exploded as the windows shattered and the gunner died a second later from the trauma. The helicopter pilot continued to panic and didn't see how close he was to the ten story building. The tail rotor clipped the side of the apartment complex and snapped of, sending the copter in a deadly tailspin. The copter crashed into another building on the other side of the street and exploded, showering the pavement with more debris, its burning husk landing on the sidewalk. Coal walked up to the stone still Ethan.

"Whoa." he said.

Before could reply his surprise as to what just took place, they heard the squealing of tires and turned around to see three black SUV round the corner and head straight towards them, presumably filled with more Umbrella mercenaries. The men ran to the sidewalk and headed down the street. They passed what was left of the helicopter on the opposite side of the street and headed for the art museum. They found the door unlocked and much to their surprise, the inside was clean and empty of bodies and the walking dead. It looked as if nothing was happening outside.

Coal and Ethan started up the spiral ramp. It was about fifteen feet across and was at an angle which would be manageable for someone in a wheelchair. They stopped at the fourth floor; modern art paintings, and aimed over the ledge at the front doors below. No one followed them in. Large sections of plate glass hung from the ceiling above them and the foyer below. Perhaps another form of art. Ethan and Coal took the opportunity to reload their weapons and catch their breath. After doing so, coal immediately squared off with Ethan.

"What the fuck was that?!" he screamed, his voice echoing throughout the open building.

"Oh someone's an angry man, aren't they?" Ethan snickered.

"I'm serious, God Dammit!" Coal yelled before punching Ethan in his jaw, sending him back into the wall. Ethan reacted by spitting out a mouthful of blood, a filling, and pointing his MP5 at Coal who pointed his M4 at Ethan.

"What crawled up your ass?" Ethan asked, bearing bloodstained teeth.

"Those were Umbrella mercs, Ethan! Your friends! What the fuck is that?" Coal screamed.

"My friends? My friends! They were trying to kill me, too, you stupid fuck!"

"I'm sick of your shit, Ethan! Who sent them? Who!?"

"You think I know that? Jesus tap dancing Christ, do you have a brain deficiency?" If the two men weren't so busy screaming at each other then they would have heard the sound of a helicopter landing on the roof above them, and the sounds of car doors slamming outside.

"Who fucking sent them, Ethan?"

"Fuck you, Coal! I don't know!" The door leading to the roof two floors above them opens and closes.

"Yes you do! You're one of them! Whoring yourself out to these fucking murderers!" The doors leading into the bottom floor open.

"Oh fuck you! Now get that gun out of my face or-"gunfire rang out above them and Ethan staggered back as four 9mm bullets hit him in the center of his chest. Coal dove to the ground, taking cover as Ethan slumped to the floor in a sitting position against the wall.

The gunfire was coming from the sixth floor, across the way halfway down the ramp. Coal stood as the four shooters paused and opened fire, killing one and sending the rest to cover. Gunfire erupted from the ground floor and the third floor ramp, all aimed directly at Coal. A single bullet ripped through Coal's left tricep and the force of the hit threw Coal to the ground on his back, his M4 sliding out of reach. Coal held his arm in pain as blood oozed from below his leather jacket from the wound, coming between his fingers. This took Coal's attention from the gunmen who were on the third floor ramp, giving all three of them the chance to make it to the fourth floor and run up on the prone, wounded Coal. The first black clad and black mask wearing gunman made it to Coal. Coal saw him and reached into his jacket, gripping his shoulder holstered Glock, but he couldn't draw it in time. A gunshot rang out a hole blossomed on the gunman's forehead, dropping him flat. Another and another gunshot echoed from behind Coal's position, dropping the second gunman and sending the third for cover behind a display stand. Coal looked behind him from the ground and saw Ethan, smoking Glock in hand; shirt opened revealing a bullet proof vest with four bullets in it.

"Help me up, Coal." He said. Coal made it to his feet and helped him to his while he kept the third gunman pinned down. Coal picked up his fallen M4 and helped Ethan to the cover of a side hallway which would take them around behind the third gunman. "Help me get this off, I can't breathe." Ethan said hoarsely, untucking his shirt, and tugging on his vest. Coal helped Ethan take the vest off and it no sooner hit the floor than the three remaining shooters from the sixth floor, who had made it to the fifth by now, opened fire on them across the way. Bullets whizzed around the men as Ethan ran down the small hallway and around the corner into the next section and Coal returned fire, running backwards. As he came around the corner, a bullet ripped through the corner of the wall at head level and cut through the bottom cartilage of Coal's left ear.

"Mother fucker!" Coal exclaimed, holding his ear as blood dribbled from the ragged wound, down his neck and onto his shoulder.

"You ok?" Ethan asked, reloading his weapon.

"Ah! Yeah!" Coal said, gritting his teeth against the pain.

Ethan continued down the hallway as the three gunmen made it to the fourth floor. Two took up positions at either side of the hallway, Ethan's vest at their feet, and the third took up cover next to the other gunman behind the display case. Coal joined Ethan at the other end and when the two mercs lobbed a grenade down the hallway, Ethan and Coal erupted from their end like two bats out of hell. Coal gunned down the two behind the display case before they even turned their heads to look at them, and as the grenade exploded in the hallway, killing neither of the men because they weren't in it, Ethan rounded the corner dual wielding his Glock and Beretta and killed the two mercs with ruthless efficiency.

The duo started down to the third floor, exchanging gunfire with the two mercenaries which were coming up from the second floor to meet them. The mercs made it to the third floor first but that didn't matter to Coal or Ethan. Coal unleashed his M4 on full auto, one of his bullets punching its way through the man's vest, exiting out his right back-side. Ethan, with the combined fire from his two nine-mills sent the other to the cover of a wall at the bottom of the ramp.

Coal's M4 clicked on empty; he had a few more magazines but he didn't want to waist them, so he approached the downed merc's body as Ethan emptied his Beretta into the wall and discarded it. Coal reached down to grab to Uzi the merc still had in his clutches and Coal nearly jumped out of his skin when the merc jumped up and pushed Coal against the far wall. Coal used his M4 to push the man away and gain leverage on him. Leverage which he used to push the man back to the ledge. The merc's fellow mercs on the ground floor opened fire at the exposed back they saw, unknowingly fatally wounding their friend. Coal flipped the merc over the ledge, the merc taking Coal's M4 with him as he cart wheeled eighty feet to the tile floor below. Coal checked the Uzi's mag; empty. He discarded the weapon and drew his H&K 9mm. Ethan nodded to a wheel chair in the center of the ramp, then, nudging it with his foot, sent it gently rolling down the ramp towards the merc in cover. Coal unloaded his H&K into the wall the merc was behind to keep him in cover as the empty wheelchair rolled down the ramp and Ethan followed in a crouch along the wall. The wheelchair passed by the merc's cover and the merc watched as it rolled past, its wheels squeaking as it went. He didn't see Ethan's hand holding his Glock come around the corner and send a bullet through his brain.

Ethan picked up the dead gunman's Uzi and handed it to Coal who discarded his empty H&K for the weapon. Gunfire raced up to the third floor ledge they had taken cover behind.

"How many are down there?" Ethan asked, reloading his Glock and switched its firing mode to full auto.

"I don't know." Coal said while holding the Uzi tight. "Five…maybe six. I didn't get a good look."

Ethan nodded upwards and Coal was thinking the exact same thing. Ethan blind fired over the ledge, down at the remaining enemies on the ground floor, causing them to cease fire, giving Coal the chance he needed. Coal fired up at the hanging plate glass. The rounds from his Uzi shattered the glass, severed the steel cables suspending them, dropping the twenty feet long by ten feet wide plate glass sections falling on the mercenaries. One eight foot long shard of glass landed at an angle on a merc's neck, literally cutting him in half. One intact section of plate glass landed on three of the men, reducing them to jelly. Another landed upright, shattered and fell pinning on to the ground, crushing him at the waist, and the flying shards of glass, three feet long, eviscerated another.

Coal and Ethan made it to the ground floor without further incident. One the ground floor, they paused briefly, taking in the utter destruction and chaos, and then gathered whatever ammo they could find. Ethan was able to find only three clips for his Glock and Coal found an AR15 to replace his M4, they both used the same type of ammo and clips so Coal couldn't complain, and he also found a single fragmentation grenade.

The twosome left the way they came in and found the three SUVs parked out front, all still running. They hoped in one, Coal driving and Ethan in the passenger's seat. But before they could drive off, three black hummers with the Umbrella logo blocked off the street ahead of them and three more blocked off the street behind them. Fifteen Umbrella contractors were in front and fifteen were behind them. One stepped into the light; it was Doaks, holding an AR15 and grinning.

"Mother fucker, Doaks!" Ethan screamed, pounding on the dashboard.

"We are so fucked." Coal said, looking in the rearview mirror at the row of soldiers behind them.

Before Doaks could give the order to fire, a loud, bone chilling scream echoed around the area. Everyone reacted the same way; slightly lowering their weapons and looking around slowly, and nervously. It echoed again, closer this time. That was because whatever did it was closer. Coal never really saw exactly what it was; he just saw a bipedal, ten foot tall beast land directly in front of Doaks.

"Mother fucker!" Doaks screamed before being snatched up by the monstrous creature and being swung like a baseball bat. The other mercs opened fire as Doaks was smashed into the concrete, onto the hoods of the hummers, before, finally, being used against the other mercs as a club. Coal looked in his rear view mirror and saw the other mercs turn their attention to a side street and open fire before being engulfed by dozens of running infected. Coal shifted the vehicle into drive and punched it. He drove through the slaughter of the mercs being done by whatever that monster was, and a surviving mercenary leapt on the hood as they passed, holding on for dear life. A rather fast zombie ran up and lept onto Ethan's side, punching through his window and grabbing him by the collar, Ethan pushed back at it as it tried to lean and take a chunk out of his face.

"Get back, you bitch!"

Coal swerved the SUV back and forth, attempting to shake both of their hitchhikers, but to no avail.

"Coal! HELP!!!" Ethan screamed as the zombie got closer to his face. Coal drew his Glock and fired a single round through the top of its head. The 9mm hollow point punching through its brain, traveling down its throat and corkscrewing into its left lung. Coal turned his attention back to the road when Ethan pushed the corpse away and screamed "Look out!" The SUV rear ended the parked minivan, the airbags deployed, and Ethan Rayne only saw darkness.

Ethan awoke with his head on the dashboard, blood pouring from his nose, and a nasty cut on his cheek. Through blurred vision he saw Coal firing his newly acquired AR15 down the street. Ethan's vision cleared as Coal opened the door and pulled him from the vehicle, sending him stumbling into an immediate sprint.

"RUN YOU BRITISH FUCK! RUN!" Coal screamed as he and Ethan sprinted down the street away from their wrecked ride. He soon found out why Coal was so adamant about him running fast, when Coal fired over his shoulder and the body of a wounded zombie rolled ahead of them. Twenty zombies were less than five feet behind them.

Ethan and Coal approached a car parked in the middle of the street. Ethan ran around it while Coal power slid over the hood and hit the ground running. Coal took the frag grenade out of his pocket, pulled the pin, and while firing into the advancing crowd, through the grenade under the vehicle. Coal turned and ran as the grenade rolled under the gas tank and exploded as a dozen zombies crawled over the car and even more ran around it. Whoever the owner of that car was, Coal hoped he was safe because the gas tank was full and the resulting explosion saved their lives. It ripped the wave of rotting flesh apart, killing only a few but taking most out of the race. Coal was never happier to see bits of burning flesh littering the street.

Coal and Ethan ditched the remaining zombies that pursued them and took shelter a bar. With the heavy doors locked and barricaded, and the inhabitants of the bar; two stumbling zombies, truly dead, their bodies stuffed in a back room, Ethan and Coal felt relatively safe. But they knew that that wouldn't last.

"Where's the ammo bag?" Ethan asked Coal. "Let's bandage ourselves up."

"Yeah, about that." Coal groaned. "I sort of left the ammo bag with the shotgun, food, water, and medical kit with Blake back at the cemetery."

"Wait." Ethan said, holding up his index finger. "You're telling me that you left our most powerful weapon and our med kit with a bunch of pissant queens, who we are miles away from?"

"Yup." Coal said.

"Great!" Ethan screamed.

"Keep your voice down, damnit!" Coal hissed. "It seemed like the thing to do at the time because I wasn't expecting your buddies to try and kill us!"

"That's it!" Ethan said throwing his hands up. "Fuck this shit. Fuck this bullshit! Fuck you very much, Coal, I'm out of here."

"Wait!" Coal said. "We have to go back for those kids, we can't just leave them, and you can't just leave!"

"Watch me." Ethan said, walking to the door.

"Fine! Go!" Coal said, turning away from Ethan.

Ethan stood on a chair to look outside one of the tall windows. The color drained from his face and he jumped from the chair.

"Hey, umm, Coal? Coal?" Coal turned to face him.

"What?" he asked angrily, still bleeding from his various wounds.

Ethan wiped blood from the wounds on his face and chuckled lightly. "Listen. Maybe, I was a little too quick on my decision to leave. I've recently had some time to think about it and I, for one, think it would be a good idea if we stick together. I mean, you and I make one helluva team, mate. We're the dynamic duo. I'm batman and your Robin. No, wait. You're Batman and I'm Robin, I'm OK with that. What I'm trying to say is that we stand a much better chance if we stick together. Hell! We just took on highly trained mercenaries and escaped without any severe injuries. We rock! So whatdaya say? Let's stick together and, hell, we'll even go and get those kids you seem so fond of. If we don't save 'em, then who will?"

Coal looked Ethan up and down. "There's a lot of them out there, isn't there?"

"Yeah…" Ethan whispered hoarsely.


	31. Jamming Sessions

_"I'm working late again tonight," Mrs. Thompson said to her son. "I'll be back around 2, okay?"_

"What about the show tonight?" Blake asked. "I told you about it three weeks ago."

"I know Blake, but I couldn't get off tonight," his mother explained. "I'm sorry."

Blake groaned and slouched in the recliner as Abby entered the living room and crawled up onto the couch.

"Why not try to find someone who can watch Abby for the night?" Mrs. Thompson suggested.

"Eden! Eden!" Abby pleaded, jumping up and down on the couch.

"Abby, stop jumping on the furniture," Mrs. Thompson ordered. "I've told you a million times not to do that."

Abby stopped near instantly and sat still.

"Why not ask Eden?" she continued.

"We haven't really seen eye to eye since we broke up," Blake explained. "She didn't take it too well."

"Well, its the only option," she said. Blake moaned, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"Eden... I need a favor..."

"Wake the fuck up!" Theo yelled into Blake's ear. Blake sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"You slept for about 4 hours dude," Luke said, handing him a water bottle.

4 hours, huh?" Blake said, looking around. "Where's the bag that Coal left?"

Theo motioned to the left with his head. Blake stared at the dark green bag, contemplating what Coal had suggested. _"Give it another hour,"_ he thought. _"One more hour."_

**An hour and a half later**

Blake sat next to the bag, looking through it. A shotgun, a pistol with a silencer, and a rifle. They were all fully loaded and ready to be used. He had just finished explaining the suggestion Coal gave him to Theo and Luke, and both of them agreed that it was the best idea.

"I could use the rifle," Theo said. "My father used to take me hunting all the time. I know how to use one."

"I've never held a gun in my life," Luke admitted. Blake shook his head. He hadn't either.

He reached into his pants and pulled out the pistol he stole from Zachary Gifford's corpse. "We've got 2 pistols," he said.

"So one of us takes the shotgun, and the other takes the 2 pistols?" Luke asked.

"That's what I was thinking," Blake answered. "And grab all the ammo you can. We'll try jumping from house to house to try to give ourselves a little bit of a breather to reload, since I doubt we'd be able to manage that on the run." Theo and Luke nodded in agreement.

"Where are we running too?" Luke asked. "Every exit to the city is probably blocked off. There won't be a way out."

Blake grabbed a map inside the bag and sprawled it out on the ground. He pointed towards a river, the Chattahoochee, a river that runs through all of Atlanta and almost all of Georgia.

"These things, most likely, cannot swim," Blake began. "I doubt the river would be heavily guarded either, if at all, meaning with any luck, we could swim or boat our way to safety."

"That's nearly 20 miles away though," Luke said. "Its essentially suicide."

"Its suicide to stay here too," Blake said. "Either way, we're probably not going to make it out of this city. At least this way, we'll have a fighting chance instead of just sitting on our asses waiting for a bomb."

"Alright then..." Luke said. "Lets get going then."

"You boys sure this is what you want?" Sgt. Callahan asked, ready to open the vault door.

"Yes," Blake said. "We can't just wait here to die."

Callahan saluted to the boys. "Godspeed," he said.

"On the Devil's thunder," Blake muttered as the vault slammed behind them. Luke ran up ahead. He had decided to take the shotgun, and on top of that, he was the fastest. He was more than willing to take scout duty.

He motioned the others forward. The road was clear; the destination was set, and the route had been decided upon. They would take Jefferson street as far as they could without getting into a confrontation, sticking close to the middle of the road just in case a zombie had been waiting for fresh meat. With the shit that had happened already in the past two days, the thoughts of an ambush were not completely ridiculous. They would then reach an intersection with Elm street, which they would take for a few miles, if possible. Then, they'd be back at the Gauntlet, where their night had began. The middle of Atlanta. It was bound to be literally crawling with hundreds upon hundreds of the monsters, but it was the only way to make the trip without it taking nearly twice the time, and they weren't ready to give the government more time to think about just bombing the dead city and putting a definite end to the the Gauntlet, they'd take Lincoln south the rest of the way until they saw what they hoped would mean salvation, the Chattahoochee.

Luke ran ahead about ten feet, shotgun always at the ready. Theo watched him intently while Blake frequently looked over his shoulder, prepared for an attack from behind.

They reached the intersection without so much a single zombie sighting. Elm street was riddled with apartment complexes, meaning that it was much more likely to house even more zombies than your average street.

"Be alert," Blake whispered. "Luke, stay with the group for this one." He nodded and raised his shotgun, ready for an attack. And he got one.

Not even ten yards into the street, a trashcan fell and hit the pavement hard. From inside a possum crawled out, eating a piece of garbage.

"Hey, it finally wasn't Luke's fault," Theo said sarcastically.

"Bitch, I've got a shotty," he replied.

"Shut up!" Blake whispered loudly. In the distance, one could hear a loud scream. Then from outside of an alley nearly twenty feet ahead, a woman who looked in her mid forties, and a man who looked nearly ten years older ran into the middle of the street, being followed by a horde of zombies. At least 20 of them, all gaining quickly on the couple. Theo raised the rifle in an attempt to start picking them off, but Blake stopped him.

The zombies tackled the couple, and began to rip them to shreds as they screamed for help. Blake noticed the woman staring directly at him, crying for anything.

"We don't want them to see us," Blake whispered. He raised the pistol with the silencer and aimed. It was a clear shot at her head, and Blake took it. She stopped screaming instantly, and the zombies didn't give it a second thought.

"In here guys," Luke said, running inside an apartment building without a door. Theo and Blake followed him in, not wanting to give the feast before them another look.

Luke ran up the stairs and into the first room he could find unlocked. Theo and Blake followed him. Two shotgun shots. They walked into the room and saw two zombies on the ground, both nearly missing their entire heads.

"Lets get up to the roof," Blake suggested. "We'll jump from roof to roof."

"That's insane," Luke said. "There's no way."

"We were going to do it back when we picked you up," Blake said.

"And we assessed the situation and found a better idea!" Luke yelled.

"We don't have time to assess!" Blake yelled back. "We have a time limit now. A much stricter one."

"Guys!" Theo yelled, looking out the window. "I think they heard us." Blake and Luke ran to the window and saw the horde running down the street.

"They're all fucking running now?!" Blake yelled.

"I call shenanigans!" Luke yelled.

"I'm liking the roof idea right now," Theo said, heading for the door. Luke and Blake ran after him and they all started up the stairs.

"Three more floors," Theo yelled over the growling horde that had just started up after them.

"Better be praying to god that there's a lock on the door to the roof," Blake said.

"Or just hope it is unlocked," Luke added, getting ahead of the group.

Blake blind fired, hoping to slow down the horde. Out of six shots, he heard three bang against the walls, and assumed the other three hit. If nothing else, it would cause the specific zombies in front to stagger and cause an obstacle for the rest.

Luke reached the top of the stairs first and pounded on the door.

Locked.

"SHIT!" Theo yelled as he reached it.

"They're a flight of stairs away from us," Blake yelled. "What do we do?"

Luke didn't hesitate. He aimed for the doors handle and fired, blowing the door open and stopping it from being able to close.

"What the fuck?!" Theo yelled.

He ran onto the roof and straight for the neighboring building. Again, without hesitation, he jumped over the gab between the buildings, landing on the other side, rolling to safety.

"Follow suit," Blake yelled. Both boys did the same, both barely making it. The horde was right behind them. They reached the rooftop and started for them.

"Pick'em off," Luke yelled as he started to open fire. Blake and Theo did the same.

Only three zombies were able to even make it to the jump, and they were shot down in midair.

Blake fell backwards onto the ground and chuckled.

"We made it," he said in between breaths. "We actually survived."

The others joined him on the ground, both with large smiles.

"Now, lets keep moving," Blake said, reloading his guns. Luke and Theo agreed, also starting to reload. "We've still got one hell of a trip."


	32. Cinders And Ash

Raccoon City, Colorado, six months ago

Coal pivoted on his heel and spun around to face the zombie. The flashlight of his M4 illuminated the face of his wife, Katrina, and much to his joy she was not a zombie, she was just terrified.

"Oh my god!" Coal exclaimed, stopping his finger from squeezing the trigger just barely and feeling his heart skip a beat.

Katrina's face was covered with blood that was not her own, she was visibly shaking, her eyes distant and cold, and an empty Berretta in her right hand. She was looking past Coal as if whatever she was staring at was far away. She had the thousand yard stare.

"Kat." Coal said, lowering his rifle. "Kat?" he said again. "Kat, look at me. Look at your husband." That brought Katrina out of it. She looked at Coal and dropped the empty pistol in the same instant.

"Josh?" Katrina whimpered. "Josh...oh Josh!" she said as she flung her arms around him and buried her head in his tactical vest, sobbing uncontrollably. Her knees became weak and she fell to the floor, Coal holding her up and sliding to his knees, all the while still holding her.

"It's ok." Coal said into her scalp. "I'm here now. It's going to be..." Coal looked past Katrina and at the end of the hall heard a moan. That moan was followed by another, and then another until there was a cacophony of moans and shuffling feet knocking over fragile medical equipment.

"Katrina, honey, we have to go." Katrina didn't respond but only dug her face deeper into his chest, crying even harder.

"Katrina, baby, please." Coal whispered, gripping her tattered EMT uniform tightly in one hand and his M4 in another. He was low on ammo and had even less time. "We have to go, now." Coal went to stand but all Katrina was was dead weight, pulling his exhausted body back to the blood smeared floor.

Coming from around the corner at the end of the hallway was a dozen stumbling corpses. Many more followed. Some were patients at the hospital, made obvious by their blood and fluid soiled gowns, others looked as if the came in off the street. They were thirty feet away and closing with each drunken step.

"Katrina!" Coal snapped, standing and pulling her to her feet, forcing her to stand on her own. One completely nude woman, looking as if she was in her late teens, reached her arms out toward Coal, a ravenous moan escaping her cracked, blackened lips. "I'm not going to let you die! We have to get out of here, now!" With that said Coal handed her his Glock and turned on the advancing wave of rotting flesh. He popped off one shot, hitting the naked teenager between the eyes. With each shot he took a step backwards down the hallway. Ten shots into this he bumped into Katrina.

"Josh!" she screamed. He turned and saw more of the undead rounding the other corner.

"Kat! Shoot!" Coal screamed before a zombie broke through a glass partition on his left, tackling him to the ground. Katrina screamed and Coal screamed at her to shoot the other ones.

The zombie on top of Coal was once a doctor at the hospital named Steven Marsowitz. Coal knew this only because he was still wearing his name tag and his torn hospital scrubs. The zombies mouth looked as if it was filled with tar as it opened it's mouth and snapped in Coal's face while he pushed back with his hand on it's throat. Coal pushed back with such ferocity that he felt his thumb go through the skin and poke at it's adams apple.

Katrina screamed.

Coal looked past the zombie on top of him and saw another right on top of his wife...

Present Day

"...if you kids are listening to this, then Ethan and I are at the Atlanta am radio station, RWAM on Broker and Stenner street. We are here waiting for you here. If you come, be careful because there are loads of them out there. I am setting this message to repeat every thirty seconds on every am station. Coal out."

That was the twentieth time that message had replayed itself and Ethan had had enough.

"Jesus Christ, Josh! If I have to listen to you say that crap one more fucking time then I'm gonna feed myself to those buggers outside!" Ethan pointed furiously with his middle finger out the window of the small two story radio station to the street which was littered with walking corpses, all bumping into each other and moaning towards the sky. They were unaware that Coal and Ethan were in the station.

"I'm sorry, Ethan." Coal said from behind the desk at the radio DJs counsel. "But we have to keep it on so it can repeat the message."

"I'm surprised that you didn't tell the little bastards to button up their jackets and comb their hair before they left for school." Ethan scoffed while lighting a cigarette. It was his last one.

"All the teachers are walking corpses, Ethan. There is no more school in this city." Coal said, counting the remaining rounds for his AR15. There were not many.

"It was a joke, you tit." Ethan said through the smoke tendrils. "This was a stupid fucking plan anyhow."

"Wait." Coal said, setting the magazine down. "Did you just call me a tit?"

"Those boys are deader than door nails by now, without the help of us two, and the only one's that are gonna here that message are not friendly." Ethan said, ignoring Coal's question and eluding to their hit team from earlier.

"I know that its a risk, but we have to do this. I can save these kids, Ethan. I can."

Ethan eyed Coal up and down. He may be an ignorant bastard but he was far from stupid. He knew the real reason why Coal wanted to save these kids and, while he didn't agree with it he could understand and respect it. Maybe even admire it. But he couldn't let Coal know that.

"Whatever, ya ponz. I'll be on the roof if you need me." Ethan exited the room via an open window which took his to the flat roof just outside of it.

Coal shook his head and continued counting his remaining rounds. When he finished shortly there after, he stepped outside to ask Ethan how many he had left. As he approached Ethan, the recording of his voice left his hearing and mingled with the moaning from below. Ethan was staring off into space, several feet away from the edge. Coal came and stood beside him and stared off, as well. After a moment he realized that Ethan's cigarette had burned itself well into the filter, nearly down to where his fingers were.

"Ethan are..." Coal trailed off as he heard it. A low, growling, rumbling sound, sounding far away yet disturbingly close. An instant later Coal realized what it was and hoped that the instant didn't slow them down too much.

"Is that what I think it is?" Coal asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"Yeah..." Ethan whispered, his voice cracking. "Fast movers."

They both looked at each other and had a simultaneous realization; they were both fucked.

They sprinted for the window, each diving through it at the same time. Ethan pounded down the stairs while Coal followed him, scooping up his rifle as the went. They made it to the first floor, the sounds of the jets becoming louder and more ominous. Ethan shouldered through the door, knocking a few zombies to the ground as he made it to the sidewalk. Coal followed him out and sprayed the crowd with fully automatic fire. They sprinted through the undead littered street, knocking away any zombie which ventured too close. But there were too many to handle. Ethan, still in the lead, saw an orange cone in the center of the street. More were next to, overturned on the pavement. One of the still working streetlamps illuminated the open man hole cover.

"Some poor sods must've been working on this before the outbreak." Ethan thought. He let out some unintelligible sound and ran for the hole. Coal followed behind while 3000 feet above their heads, two F17 Raptor pilots fired their Napalm rockets at the radio station.

Ethan lept feet first down the hole, and Coal slid, like he was about to score the winning run, across the pavement and feet first into home. He fell ten feet and landed on top of Ethan and fell under three feet of the worst water imaginable.

On the street level, the rockets slammed into the radio station, exploding into fireballs. The napalm flames engulfed the entire area, truly killing anything unlucky enough to be above ground.

Several minutes later, after the bulk of the flames had died away, Coal and Ethan climbed out of the sewer. They stood in the center of the street and surveyed the destruction. It was catastrophic. Dozens of burning corpses littered the street in both large and small pieces. Nothing was left of the radio station and the air was thick with the blackest smoke that either men had ever seen.

"Holy hell." Coal coughed, the ragged wound on his ear reopening and starting to bleed again. Ethan had a slight limp now from his fall and groaned when he looked at himself.

"This was a new suit!" he screamed, kicking a still burning torso on the pavement. He looked to Coal. "This has, without a doubt, been the worst three days of my life. I killed my best mate, I got black listed, I partnered up with some crazy yank who trys so hard to save everyone else even though he can't save himself, and we've gotta dodge zombies at every fucking turn! And if that wasn't bad enough, now my former employers, the ones responsible for all of this, and, most likely, the federal government wants us both dead! Oh isn't this just a barrel of monkeys!"

"Barrel of monkeys?" a young voice asked from behind them. The two ragtag men turned to see Blake, Luke, and Theo, all standing next to a minivan with weapons in their clutches.

"That's the wierdest fucking expression I've ever heard."


	33. Almost There

"Hey!" Ethan grumbled walking over to the others with a frown. Ethan smacked Theo across his face, then abruptly walked over to Blake. Kicking him hard in the shin, and walking over to Luke with a grimace. Ethan pat him on the shoulder, reassuring the boys safety and getting him to lower his guard so that he could jab a finger into his eye hard.

"You are my least favorite." Ethan whispered into Luke's ear before climbing into the Van.

"Not driving." Ethan shouted climbing into the farthest space in the van away from the windshield, which happened to be the trunk space, a snug sleeping spot between the back seat and the trunk door. The group slowly got into the van, the kids voted and Blake got to drive this time. Coal was in the passenger seat.

"We head for the nearest port, or marina." Coal said with a tired tone. The group drove for nearly forty minutes, it was more difficult to drive with every zombie running full sprint at the van.

"Run'em over." Ethan mumbled barely awake through the chaos. Coal had to roll his window down several times to shoot off assailants clinging to the hood. On a relatively quiet street, with only three zombies in sight Coal shouted

"Stop, Gun store!". The car jerked to a hault, Ethan shot upright

"Ammo?" he asked opening the trunk and running to the gun store, shooting an oncoming zombie. Ethan looked at the door made of glass and snickered firing two rounds into it, shattering the glass plate.

"Candy gram!" Ethan shouted walking inside, quickly everyone worked together in collecting items of importance.

"Uncle tom!" Ethan shouted tossing Coal a five hour energy shot, which Coal downed in an instant. Ethan already drank three. Theo Had a cooler, and dumped Gatorade and ice into it with quickness in his step. Coal shot a zombie that had entered the shop, everyone went back to work after that. Ethan slipped new clips of ammo in his clip holsters under each arm. Two clips for his Beretta under one arm, two clips for his glock under his other, not to mention the full clip now in each gun. Ethan's emergency gun, his whalter ppk was still on his hip, still untouched surprisingly through this whole ordeal. Ethan's dirty suit jacket was tossed to the floor, his tie long since gone. He attached a sheathed combat knife on his right strap of one of his shoulder holster. Coal had similarly attached a knife to the back of his shoulder holster, able to grab it from behind his shoulder, like the sword of a knight. With his pistols at full capacity he began to throw clips into the blue duffel bag that had been with them since the beginning. After he had what seemed to be enough for himself he went to a glass case and bashed it open, grabbing two hunting shotguns, he tossed one to Coal who took it with ease. With boxes of shotgun shells Ethan threw them into a bag, as Coal loaded a pistol for Luke. Ethan snickered and resisted the urge to say

"Aww, daddy!" Ethan sat a small box of shells between them, The two men began to load their shotguns, 8 shots before a reload. Ethan grabbed the straps for the guns and attached them to the shotguns, now they could easily drop them and not lose them.

"Ready?" Coal asked Ethan. Ethan cocked his shotgun.

"With what we have here i could last a year in a jungle being pursued by enemy forces." Ethan replied. Coal waited for an answer to his question.

"Fucking hell, yes I am ready, i could go to hell and back and still want a blowjob before I went to sleep." Ethan frowned and looked at the ground.

"What?" Coal asked.

"Man... if i don't get a blowjob soon i am going to have to beat it for the first time in 6 years." Ethan said with a frown walking out the door back to the van. Ready to go, the group went back on the road.

Fifteen minutes later as they were nearing a marina Blake screamed looking into the rear view mirror, as the giant hairless behemoth that took out the umbrella hit squad was silently running at them. Seemingly coming from nowhere the beast looked like the true mythological giant, very little teeth, a square head, no clothes, and and eyes of hunger.

"Oh boy, floor i-" Coal shouted getting cut off as the beast ripped off the vans trunk door, causing Ethan to roll out, his only saving grace was the seatbelt he hung onto.

"Motherfucking ,cockshoving, twatstain!" Ethan shouted holding his shotgun upward and firing at the beasts head, nailing it with a scatter shot, causing it to stop and momentarily recover, the beast managed too fall to far behind to catch up. Luke and Theo pulled Ethan back into the van as his legs skidded against the road. in the distance the Giant could be seen, lurching back and forth before large bat-like wings could be seen shooting out of its back. After a running start, the giant took to the air.

"It can fly???!!?" The entire vans group screamed loudly and angrly.

"There is the Marina!" Blake shouted and pointing. They were almost there.


	34. How The Waters Closed Above Him

"Fucking Christ!" Ethan shouted as he fired pistol shot after pistol shot into the flying creature. The momentary skidding across the pavement had torn through his pants and reached his bare flesh, and cut through it like a knife through butter. He was bleeding heavily, but that seemed to be the least of his concerns.

Theo aimed with the new rifle he had grabbed from the gun shop and fired as well, but just as with Ethan's shots, they did nothing to stop the monsters pursuit.

"Just a little farther," Coal yelled, climbing to the back to assist. It was less than a minute away, but at the rate the beast was gaining ground, that could be too long.

Blake screamed up front. "We got at least 10 of them up here!" he shouted. No response.

The zombies all ran towards the car, head on and ready to collide.

The impact came fast and swift. The van managed to roll over two or three of the zombies, but the others halted the vehicle in its tracks. Blake flew forward through the windshield and out onto the marina dock, rolling dangerously close to the water. The others flew forward, but all managed to stay in the vehicle.

"BLAKE!" Luke yelled, pulling himself up. Blake lay unconscious about three feet from the water, bleeding profusely. Five zombies still stood after the collision, and they all made a mad dash for him.

Luke reached down and grabbed the pistol that had fallen from Coal's hand during the collision and started firing wildly. Two zombies fell before reaching the boy. The remaining three, in their craze, dove for Blake and rolled into the water, clutching him hard.

"BLAKE!" Luke yelled louder. He crawled through the broken windshield and ran towards the water.

"Luke!" Coal yelled, but his concern for the boy soon shifted towards the rumble of the monster behind them. It had landed.

"Run!" Coal yelled.

Ethan and Theo both made a mad dash towards the Marina building with Coal bringing up the rear, blind firing behind him as the monster made its slow yet ominous approach. As they reached the building, they heard a splash, and Luke had disappeared beneath the water.

Blake had sunk to the middle of the water's depths. The zombies which had tackled him had apparently lost their grips and had sunk to the bottom, where they were walking around, reaching up desperately for Blake, who floated just out of reach.

"They can't swim," Luke thought. "Good." He swam down to the unconscious Blake and grabbed hold of him, then started swimming back to the surface.

Luke quickly swam over to the opposite side of the Marina's building and carried Blake onto land. Across the river, he saw as the giant creature burst through the wall, no doubt chasing after the others. He then heard Ethan yelling countless swear words.

"Shit," Luke mumbled, checking Blake for any bites. He heard the growls of the giant, and many gunshots. Luke raised his pistol and crouched next too Blake. "Please... Wake up," he cried before falling onto his back on the wet grass. All he could do was think of his words immediately after the show...

"We're gonna remember this forever."


	35. David and Goliath

Raccoon City, Colorado, six months ago

Coal screamed and, with surprising force, threw the zombie off of him and through the window which it came. He made it to his feet just as the zombie bit into Katrina's forearm, her cries of pain mingling with Coal's screams and the moans of the other, very close zombies. Coal tackled the zombie to the ground, straddled it and brought the butt of his rifle down on it's face, opening it's skull with the first blow. Cola made it to his feet and continued firing into the advancing horde while at the same time pulling Katrina to her feet and pushing her towards the door leading to the staircase several feet away. Coal went through the door first and was greeted by three reanimated corpses. He sprayed them at point blank range and pushed the surviving two down the staircase with his rifle. One of the zombies held onto his rifle causing Coal to lose his grip on it and it went clattering down the staircase with them. Coal pulled Katrina through the doorway, slamming the door in the faces of dozens of zombies. He took the Glock from her and pulled her by the arm up to the roof of the hospital. The door wouldn't hold them for long. As they made it to the sixth of twelve stories, Coal shot a zombie in the stairwell executioner style and stepped over its body as it tumbled down the staircase. As they made it to the seventh they heard the fourth floor door give way and the stairwell became infested.

Katrina stumbled and fell to the ground and Coal turned to see another zombie right behind them. He shot the creature in the face and picked Katrina up, fireman carrying her the rest of the way.

Coal had to shoot off the lock of the roof access door in order for them to gain access to the roof. This didn't boad well for them when the death squad reached the door. Coal carried Katrina to the helipad and set her down, taking the time to reload his last, half full magazine in his Glock and radio Captain Moore.

"Sierra 114. This is Sergeant Coal, do you copy? Over."

After two long seconds Moore responded.

"Sierra 114 here. Great to here your voice, Sergeant."

"Cut the pleasantries, Captain. We are on the helipad of the hospital and are awaiting extraction. We have bookooh bad guys on our asses. What is your ETA?"

"ETA 60 seconds. Will be arriving from the East. See you soon."

"Hurry." Coal said, lowering the radio. It then hit him that Katrina, his wife, the love of his life, had been bitten at mid forearm level. She was infected. He couldn't take her out of the city. Coal literally felt his heart start to hurt and felt liquid lead roll into his stomach. He turned to see Katrina standing on the far edge of the helipad, over looking the empty space infront of her and the twelve story drop to the pavement below. Blood trickled incessantly from the wound on her arm, dripping off of her finger tips on her left hand. She looked at the wound and then her wedding band, it was soaked with blood.

"Kat..." Coal said, knowing what she was about to do. "It's gonna be ok. Kat...look at me, please baby."

Katrina turned and locked eyes with Coal, tears flowing freely down her face. "I'm infected, Josh. I can't leave the city."

"No, no, no. It's gonna be ok, we can find a cure, there has to be one. Umbrella wouldn't have made this virus without a cure, would they? It'll all be ok, I promise." Coal took a step towards Katrina and she stepped away from his towards the edge.

"Stay away, Josh!" she sobbed.

"Wait, baby, you don't have to do this! I can fix this, let me fix this!" Coal pleaded, tears now flowing freely from his eyes. Banging could be heard on the door leading to the roof. Not long now...

"No you can't, no one can!" she screamed. "I'm dead."

"Katrina, please, honey, I love you..." Coal said hoarsely. The helicopter was approaching the hospital for it's landing.

"Forever and ever..." Katrina replied. She then fell over the edge of the helipad, racing up to meet the street below.

Coal was in such a state of despair that he couldn't scream, couldn't cry, couldn't even think. Coal fell to his knees, the Glock clutched down at his side. The helicopter began landing behind Coal and the door gave way allowing dozens of zombies access to the roof. The blades sent dust and trash airborne, Coal's hair ruffling in the artificial wind. He didn't hear the helicopter, just knelt there looking at the space where Katrina had previously inhabited.

The helicopter's side door opened and a combat fatigued Delta sniper team exited, one picked the zombies off while the other pulled Coal to his feet and led him into the chopper. Seconds later they were airborne, leaving Raccoon, the death and Katrina behind. It was 5:52am when the Captain Moore flew the chopper past the minimum safe distance. Everyone on board the bird had seen Katrina take her own life. None of them were sure who she was to Coal, but from the absent, expressionless look on his face, coupled with his subconsciously twirling his wedding band around his left finger, made them believe that she was this man's entire world. They were correct....

Present Day

Coal fired his final round from his AR15. The bullet flew straight and true striking the giant in it's right eye, partially blinding it and causing it to stop, shaking violently in anger and pain. Coal discarded his AR15 and unslung his shotgun. Ethan and Theo came dashing from the Marina building, Ethan with a set of boat keys in his hand. There was only one boat left at the dock, a twenty foot SeaRay and the far end of the dock, those were the only keys in the lock box so logic dictated that they belonged to that boat. Coal approached Blake and Luke. Luke lay on the ground sobbing and Blake lay next to him unconscious, perhaps dieing. Coal turned and saw the behemoth Stand back up and stare at Coal with it's one good eye and snarl.

"Ethan, I need you!" Coal screamed while turning his attention to the crying Luke.

Ethan paused. He was in sprinting distance of the boat. He could just leave. "No..." Ethan said aloud. "That would be...wrong?" Ethan threw the keys to Theo who clumsily caught them. "Start the boat." Unbeknown to Ethan, or anyone else for that matter, Theo had, up until a year ago, spent every summer out on his step dad's boat on the Chattahoochee. His step dad taught him how to boat and he even had his own boating license. Theo ran for the boat at a dead sprint.

"Hey!" Coal shouted, kicking the prone Luke in his thigh, snapping the kid out of it. Coal pulled the boy to his feet and shook him by the shoulders. "Do you wanna die here!?" Coal asked. Luke, with tears streaming down his face shook his head no. "Then I need you to pick up your friend and save the tears for later, understand? Now cowboy the fuck up and be a man!" Coal pushed Luke away and turned back to the Monster as it prepared to charge them. Ethan passed Luke and gave the back of Blake a push to help Luke get his friend over his shoulder. Ethan stood five feet to Coal's right, shotgun at the ready.

"Boy, this sod sure is pissed." Ethan said.

"Sure is." Coal agreed.

"How do you suspect we go about killing it?"

"Well, I thought that my dazzling charm and your surprising wit would do it."

Ethan laughed heartily while the beast roared and charged the men.

Coal and Ethan went in opposite direction, firing again and again from different positions, confusing the stupid creature, forcing it to pick one of them. Ethan hoped that it would be Coal. The creature turned towards Ethan.

"Oh, Come on! He's just as good as me!" Ethan shouted as the beast charged him. Ethan fired his final slug before needing to reload and it went a little high, hitting one of the beast's winged protrusions at a fleshy orange spot at the middle of it's mass. This snapped the wing completely off and orange blood shot from the wound. The monster screamed in agony and shook violently, spraying the area with more of it's blood. Ethan and Coal locked eyes before Coal resumed firing, aiming for the wings and Ethan reloaded his shotgun. In mere seconds he was firing again. Coal hit the second wing, blowing it clean off. The creature howled and turned, charging Coal. Coal dodged left and the beast raced by, crashing through the Marina Building. Ethan ran up and Joined Coal as the monster emerged and continued running at them. At the exact same time Ethan and Coal each blew off the third and fourth wing. Dropping the creature to it's knees. They were less than ten feet away from the monster and Ethan, his shotgun out of ammo, grabbed the first thing he got his hand on; his knife. He threw the knife at the kneeling beast, sticking it through it's one remaining eye, causing it to howl even louder. Ethan shouted "Take that, Shrek!" but it could not be heard over the monster's cries.

Coal sprang into action. He ran along side on the monster, which was now on all fours bleeding to death, and climbed up on it. He ran along it's back, nearly slipping in it's blood, and stopped when he reached it's cranium. Coal stood with a foot on either of it's shoulder blades, aimed at the base of it's skull and fired his final slug. The creature died instantly and fell on it's stomach throwing Coal to the pavement, his empty shotgun skittering away. Ethan ran up and helped Coal to his feet. The two unlikely comrades stood side by side, staring at the crumpled mass before them. Coal was the first to speak.

"YEAH! Fuck yeah! Take that mother fucker!"

Ethan joined in. " Suck it, you piece of shit!" Ethan flipped it off and thrusted his hips towards the dead thing. "Fuck your mother!"

"Fuck your mother!" Coal repeated. The two men hugged each other and pulled away. Coal patted his chest.

"Come on, you British fuck!" The two odd friends then began chest bumping each other again and again as if they were two frat boys at a college sporting event. They stopped when they suddenly felt the ground shaking. Just a slight tremor but out of place nonetheless. They turned their attention to the gate two hundred yards away and saw hundreds of zombies sprinting right for them, behind those were thousands more. They then heard the low, rumbling sound from before at the radio station. Fast movers.

Coal and Ethan turned and sprinted for the idling boat.

"Get outa here!" Coal screamed waving at the teens on the boat.

"Wait for us!" Ethan added in.

"Get the fuck outa here!" Coal screamed.

Theo began to coast away from the dock. Luke left Blake's side and went to Theo.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.

"Coal said go, so we're going." Theo responded turning his attention back to the controls.

Theo sprinted out onto the small deck of the searay and watched as the band's saviors ran towards the dock, so close yet so far away. behind them the dead were closing fast, and the rumbling sound grew even faster.


	36. The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today

The two men ran at full speed trying to make it to the body of water before them, behind them the bombs dropped by the fast movers had just hit the ground. Within a quarter of a second, the flames and sheer force of the explosion were on the heels of Ethan an Coal.

"Jump! You dumb fuck!" Ethan shouted pulling Coal with him as he jumped off the dock and into the blue water below them. when they dove under with the force of the explosion still behind them the two men sunk to the bottom. Ethan cracked his head on a large rock, for a moment he was consumed with blackness only to stubbornly shake his head back and forth to prevent loosing consciousness. He looked around him in the dimly lit deep water not to find Coal anywhere in sight. Above the surface of water was bright dancing flame that cast an weird orange glow in the water.

"Ethan" a familiar voice spoke out in anger from behind him. Jerking himself around only to face the bloated, mostly decomposed Saul. Half the mans face was gone, bone was all that remained. Saul wrapped his bone like fingers around Ethan's throat and shook him.

"You killed me!!! I gave up my wife for you, and what do you do? leave me to die!!!!" Saul screamed in Ethan's face. Being underwater didn't effect the clarity of Saul's voice for some reason.

"Yeah, your right Saul. What i did was bad. Real,real bad. But you know me, I am a survivalist! I do what I need to to survive!" Ethan shouted with equal clarity as Saul.

"Even betrayal?" Saul asked screaming in Ethan's face still.

"No Saul! I didn't betray you. I did what I had to so that I could stay alive. You were the one who had to get close to that thing that bit you, your death was not my fault. You were doomed to begin with." Ethan shouted back.

"Bu-" Saul began to shout only to have Ethan cut him off.

"No buts about it you stupid fuck! All i did was shut the door on you....you were going to die regardless if I would have kept it open! Now get the fuck out of my head!" Ethan shouted wrenching off Saul's hands from his neck. Saul stared at him with somber yet surprised eyes. "Yeah, that's right pussnuts. You don't hold your sodding power over me anymore...So guess what I want to do now you prissy son of a bitch?" Ethan asked with a growl before throwing the hardest punch he had ever given at Saul sending him to the darker depths of the water. Saul was reaching upward in desperation as he sank.

Gasping loudly as he awoke, Ethan was above held by Coal who had pulled him out of the were making there slow drift to the boat nearly a quarter mile away, the explosions effect was seen everywhere, the nearby trees were ablaze, dead fish floated all around them. Theo spotted them and turned the boat towards them.

"Get off me or they will think your a poof." Ethan pushed off of Coal and waded by himself. He smiled knowing that the Ghost of Saul was buried beneath them.


	37. That Hazey Place Between Life And Death

**One year ago**

"Eden," Blake whispered to the sleeping girl lying next to him. She rolled over, not waking from her slumber. Blake smiled as he climbed out of the bed. This caused Eden to sit up.

"Are you leaving?" she asked groggily, rubbing her eyes. Blake chuckled.

"No, just trying to get to the bathroom without waking you," he answered. "I see I failed."

"Yeah you did," she said, lying back down and pulling the blankets up over her body. Blake laughed at her response and grabbed his pants that lay a few feet from the bed.

Blake silently shut the door behind him and flipped the lights on, only to quickly shut them back off. "Damn light," he mumbled. Reluctantly, he turned the lights back on and covered his eyes until they managed to adjust. He dug around his pocket for his cell phone, knowing he had missed a number of calls.

"Three from Theo, two from Paul and one from Harold," he counted. Four voicemails.

"Dude! Where the fuck are you?!" Harold's voice screamed. "I didn't think you'd actually fuck us over! I thought the band meant something to you you fucking asshole!"

"I told you guys I wouldn't be able to make it," Blake said to the message. "I told you all I had more important business to attend too."

Blake opted not to listen to the other messages, assuming they were all essentially the same thing. He shut the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He did his business in the bathroom and returned to Eden, who was snuggled up in the blankets, fast asleep.

Blake crawled back into the bed, slyly stealing some of the blankets and forming his body around hers, placing a kiss on her forehead before letting his own head hit the pillows, quickly falling back asleep.

**The Bands Escape**

"You both ready?" Blake asked. Theo and Luke both nodded. Luke ran out ahead, shotgun ready. The group made their way down the apartment stairs and back outside onto the streets. The time seemed to fly, and near instantly, they had arrived at the Gauntlet.

"This is where the nightmare began," Theo said as they entered the alley they had been in days ago.

"Once we're out of this hellhole, it will also be where the dream began," Blake responded.

"We've got a lot of them," Luke said, returning to Blake and Theo after peering around the corner. "At least 30. I recommend we go in and through."

Blake and Theo agreed. They found the backdoor and quietly walked into the bar.

At first glance, it had about 5 zombies. Blake took the pistol with the silencer and open fired, taking them all out without causing a commotion for the zombies outside. They carefully made their way through the bar. Even Luke managed to overpass every potential noisemaker.

"Wait!" Theo whispered. "Someones talking in the back." The boys turned towards the rear of the building and listened. It was faint, but someone was talking incoherently. Luke walked ahead of the group and found the room. The managers office.

Luke pushed on the door and it swung open, revealing the man who had hired the band for the night previous. His clothes were bloodstained, his eyes shot, and he was mumbling something that the boys couldn't make sense of. He sat on the ground next to a body of a dead naked woman, who was covered in bite marks.

"Shit," Luke said, lowering his shotgun. "He's lost it."

"He's gone bat-shit bonkers," Theo added.

The man held a piece of clothing that had belonged to the woman, and he was chewing on it in between mumbled words. He didn't look up. He didn't acknowledge the intruders. He just sat there, chewing on a piece of clothing and mumbling gibberish words.

"Hello," Blake said, moving closer to the man. "Do you remember us?" No response.

"Blake," Theo whispered. He nodded towards the mans desk. A set of keys lay in plain sight. "What do you think? Should we try it?"

"I think so," Blake said. "Grab them. I'm gonna help him."

"How?" Theo asked. Blake loaded the silenced pistol.

"The only way I can..."

Blake drove, Theo was in the passenger seat, and Luke was sprawled out across the backseat, rejoicing.

"We've got this now," he said happily. "They can't touch us in here!"

Theo laughed, feeling just as safe. Blake smiled, feeling safe as well.

"What's on the radio?" Luke asked. "Try to find something. Haven't had a music fix in days." Theo started messing with the knobs, hoping to find any kind of signal.

"Good luck," Blake said, not expecting a thing.

"-every thirty seconds on every am station. Coal out."

The van went silent. Half a minute went by, and Coal's voice filled the speakers.

"Broker and Stenner," Blake whispered. He made a hard left and increased speed. "We've got to get them," he said to the others, who agreed.

**"..."**

"Blake!" Coal yelled into the face of the unconscious boy. His eyes fluttered and his arm twitched. In a heartbeat, he sat up, coughing up water and blood.

"Where are we?" he asked immediately.

"On our way out of here," Coal responded. "I think its finally over..."


	38. The BSAA?

After nearly a day of puttering about in the small searay, the rag tag group ran out of gas near the city of Columbus, Georgia, and floated along the Chattahochee, running up on the shore near Fort Benning, the U.S. Army Base. Neither Coal nor Ethan liked this one bit. This was probably where the Military forces outside of Atlanta came from. The very same ones working congruently with Umbrella, both of which were trying to kill them. But they had no choice. Coal and Ethan went on shore to investigate, leaving Blake, Theo, and Luke behind to gaurd the boat. None of the boys seemed to mind, although Ethan wanted to stay behind as well, Coal wouldn't let him.

"I don't see why we both need to go out and die." Ethan said begrudgingly.

"For the last time, Ethan, its called investigating." Coal said while ducking under some low hanging branches, his nearly empty Glock held tightly in his hands.

"Tomato, tamato." Ethan said before smacking his face on the same branches Coal had just ducked under. "Son of a bitch!" he snapped, thrashing at the branches.

"Shut up!" Coal hissed.

"Why?" Ethan asked. "The government probably evacuated this entire area already, its not like..." Ethan trailed off when he heard it too. A twig snapping and lose debris being shifted about by falling feet. The sounds of foot falls were all around the men now. The owners being concealed by the tree lines. Ethan and Coal went back to back, aiming their Glocks at the rustling branches. Neither had much ammo left, before they left the boat the two took an inventory of the groups ammo and weapons. Needing to leave the boys with something to defend themselves with, Ethan and Coal split up the remaining thirteen rounds between themselves for their sidearms; Ethan took seven while Coal took six. From the sounds of it, it would not be enough.

From somewhere in front of Coal, someone screamed "Drop your weapons!" Not even a second later nearly twenty soldiers sprung up all around the men. They were dot with laser sights, a plethora of weapons aimed directly at them. Coal saw Assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, he even saw an MK11 sniper rifle. Military grade.

"Fat chance, fuckoh." Ethan said, steeling himself against the onslaught. Coal slowly lowered his weapon and raised his arm up resting it on Ethan's lowering his, as well. These soldiers were not Umbrella mercs, nor were they the Army, they were something else entirely. Not only were their fatigues different; tan pants, OD green tactical vests. But the feeling that Coal got in the pit of his stomach wasn't impending doom, but safety.

Ethan gave Coal a confused and angry stare. "What the fuck are you doing, mate?" he asked in a hushed tone. Coal with a heavy breath said the following;

"We are survivors from the Atlanta outbreak. My name is Joshua Coal, Sergeant with the Atlanta PD, this is Ethan Rayne, former Contractor with Umbrella. There are three others survivors on a boat a few hundred yards away."


	39. Pressure Cooking And Sexual Abuse

Ethan, Coal, and the boys were all together inside the small Bio-hazard decontamination room. Everyone was naked, standing in a line, hands properly covering ones crotch.

"I feel like i am in a fucking car wash." Ethan said with a chuckle, as they were sprayed with another wave of rather hot water and lathered foam. Ethan looked down at his wrists, they were handcuffed.

"Ethan? why are you the only one of us in handcuffs?" Luke asked from the back of the line of men.

"First off boy, it is quite poofy of you to notice my wrists right next to my package...especially from behind me, which means you were either staring at my ass or what is dangling between my legs. What i am trying to say is that...well I think your gay, homo, a dick sucker, Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John, a poof, a fairy. what was that aerobics guys name?....Simon? Simmons? YES! that's it Richard Suckymcsuckcock Simmons!" Ethan said laughing to himself.

"I'm not a fag!" Luke shouted back.

"Oh, that's nice. Coal did you hear that Luke here hates Gay people." Ethan said smiling.

"I don't hate gay people" Luke said.

"So you love them?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, of course i love gay people. no wait! You made me. No that isn't what i meant, you made me say that!" Luke shouted.

"Right, suuure i did. Anyhoo to answer your question, one of these BSAA guys tried taking my Beretta, so I socked him one right and proper, only to find out he was going to take it and decontaminate it for me." Ethan said with a smirk.

"They tried to tell him, but someone doesn't listen." Coal added.

"Fuck off, how much longer do we all have to be in this crock pot? I feel Luke's drooling lips puckering. It's making me feel like i want to take a shower, what a perfect place since were in a shower. Luke stop it please, I scrub and I scrub but still i feel dirty, look at someone else." Ethan said with a smirk.

"Where in here for another hour." Coal frowned.

"Fuck you Ethan. Fuck you!" Luke nearly screamed.

"God damn it. I told you no Luke, no means no. it doesn't mean no means yes!. I have a rape whistle." Ethan shot back.

"GRAAAAHHH!" Luke screamed.

"Oh god, oh god. did he just cum? oh no did it get on my leg? Thank god where going to be pressure cooked another hour." Ethan said laughing.

"Cut it out please your going to make him off himself." Theo said with a chuckle.

"Weren't you fucking listening? He already offed himself!!!!" Ethan shouted. Everyone but Luke laughed hysterically.

"Come on stop. he is going to kill himself." Coal said in between laughs.

"Well why do you think I do this!" Ethan nearly screamed.

An Hour later...

"Well... At least we're clean," Blake said as the group of 5 were led out of the Bio-hazard cleaning room.

"I'll never be clean again..." Ethan mumbled.

"Ethan shut up," Luke said, annoyed. "It was fun while it lasted, but stop beating the dead horse."

"I think you were the one beating it," Theo chimed in. He was met with a swift kick in the shin.

The group began dressing again when the man from earlier appeared.

"I am Captain Hawthorne," he said. "Leader of BSAA Delta Squad."

"What is BSAA?" Blake asked.

"We are a team of soldiers specifically trained to handle Bio-Terror and Bio-Terrorists," Hawthorne replied. "Bio-Terrorists such as Umbrella."

"Is this one of those, 'We have to kill you because you know too much' deals?" Ethan asked. "Or do you have one of those Men In Black things that erase our memory? I'd much prefer the latter."

"Neither," Hawthorne replied. "We actually have big plans for you."


	40. The Past Is Behind This Unwilling Duo

Hawthorne was not kidding when he said that he had big plans for the two men. He intended to make them field agents for the BSAA due to their battlefield prowess, resourcefulness, ingenuity, and the ability to remain calm while a city of infected zombies chased them (twice for Coal). Couple all of that with their hatred towards Umbrella (and all other bio-terrorists for that matter) made them prime candidates for the positions. Their duties as BSAA field agents were to travel the globe working congruently with other sectors of the BSAA and to perform investigations and recon (most often under deep cover) and set up meetings to take down bio-terrorists with the aide of the BSAA special tactics division. As exciting as it all sounds, it is that much more terrifying. They would be working in some of the worst, most distressed areas of the world with no government to speak of and with little or no back up; war torn Somalia, Bosnia, Sau Paulo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea. Those are just a few of the areas that they would be visiting in the years to come. But it was now what they did, it was who they've been forced to become, and they were going to be damn certain that someone, anyone would pay for it.

Blake, Luke, and Theo- The angst filled teens

Hawthorne saw to it that the now orphaned boys were set up in an undisclosed location, under new identities, and with no contact with anyone from their former lives; even Coal or Ethan. They were put up in a nice, free, three bedroom apartment with a monthly allowance of 1,000 dollars each, something which would be theirs until they reached the age of 21. The federal government would also pay for their entire education after high school to whatever school they wished to attend, if they indeed chose to continue their education.

Coal and Ethan, as a final parting gift to the boys, dipped into their own pockets and bought them all new instruments. This was something that Ethan needed some convincing to do, and something which nearly bankrupted the men. But that didn't really matter now, because they now had an unlimited expense account with the United Nations. Everything and anything that they needed, or wanted was paid for by the tax payers of 192 member states.

"See you in the next life." Coal said to Blake as he and his two and only friends, Luke and Theo boarded the private jet which would take them far away to their new lives.

"Yeah…" Blake said softly. "In the next life…" The door closed behind him and the jet started its pre-flight checklist. Minutes later, the jet accelerated down the runway and took off into the setting sun, leaving the boy's surrogate fathers behind on the tarmac. Ethan and Coal stood there for a longtime watching the plane as it became just a dot on the horizon. Ethan, of course, was the first to speak.

"I hope they slam into a mountain and die mid-flight."

"I don't think there will be any mountains during their flight." Coal said, barely acknowledging Ethan.

"You know where they're going?" Ethan said. Coal looked into Ethan's eyes and saw the slightest bit of hope. He hoped to know where the kids were heading to. Ethan would, years later, confess to Coal after nearly thirty shots of Patron Silver that he was actually quite fond of the teenagers, even that closet case, klutz Luke. Coal never spoke of this because Ethan blacked out around shot number 23 and he didn't remember saying that. And if he ever found out that Coal knew, then he would kill him. Literally.

Coal reached up and squeezed Ethan's shoulder with affection. "I'm going to miss them too, sweetie. But don't worry, we can have more, maybe adopt if your womb has become too dusty and dried up in your old age. Give us a kiss." Coal leaned in to Ethan, lips puckered and Ethan pushed Coal away hard.

"Gah!" he exclaimed. "I don't, nor will I ever miss those little queers. And what the fuck is the matter with you? Have you gone gay on me, too?"

"It's not gay when you're the woman of the relationship." Coal said as he and Ethan started for the parked, unmarked, black fed car waiting for them on the tarmac.

"Two things." Ethan said while they walked side-by-side. "1. That is gay. 2. I am NOT the woman. 3. This is not a relationship."

"Don't say things like that, baby." Coal whined. "And that's three things."

"Shut the fuck up, you git!" Ethan snapped.

"Fuck you, you tea drinking asshole!" Coal snapped back at his now partner in the BSAA.

"Fucking tit!" Ethan said back.

"Yeah, well…wait. Did you just call me a tit?"

THE END...

(Ethan Rayne And Joshua Coal will return.)


End file.
